Monday 23 June 2014

Tuesday: Marriage


We just celebrated our silver wedding anniversary. We had lived together for a few years before that. We weren't following Jesus back then and so we followed the usual social pattern of living together before considering marriage. It was not a very secure time for our relationship and much went awry during that period. We almost broke up after a few years. It would have been easy to do so.

Long term relationships are hard. They require investment of time and self-sacrifice and compromise and humility and all kinds of things, once you get past the first couple of years of being 'all loved-up'. But mostly, what they require is commitment. We didn't have that until we were married and then only a fraction of what we have now. What changed? Jesus walked into our marriage when we became Christians. Suddenly, this wasn't just a social or legal contract, it became a covenant.


Then, when challenges came our way, such as severe financial stress, international moves, disability in the family, teenagers (love 'em but they can be a challenge!), chronic illness, it wasn't just our own love of each other that we relied on to get us through; it was God's love and commitment to our marriage covenant.

You might find this video clip interesting. It's a conversation between 3 pastors on sustaining the covenant of marriage.As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to a young married couple, "It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love." If God is in that marriage, which He is, then you need not fear. Continue to submit to one another, in love and humility, find joy and fun in everyday living and keep your eyes fixed on the long term.

I love you both, Dear Daughter, and pray for you daily.

Mimi is a wife to Jamie, mother to two grown up children, a mother-in-law and a grandmother to a darling little grand-daughter. She home-educated her children and now teaches exam subjects to groups of home-educated children. She's a Worship Leader in her church and has a passion for helping women raise children to adulthood with a strong faith in the Lord Jesus.



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