While going through an exercise of faith in her beautiful patience, a biblically educated seminary graduate counseled our Nebraskan friend , marriage is “a choice we have to make every day”.
She declined to agree with him. She understood the position he took because of the modern understanding we have of God’s word within human psychology, but regardless, disagree she did.
Marriage, she bravely confronted, is a choice made the moment you step down the aisle, when you say ‘I do’: a choice made only once and forever.
The common Christian lingo “you must work at your marriage” or “choose your battles” or “biblical reason for divorce” or “marriage is a choice we make every day” is currently fashionable dogma. I wonder at this modern philosophy befitting the character of Christ.
What if we changed our counsel to “through love, serve one another” … “it is better to give than to receive” … “esteem others higher than yourself” … “submit yourself to God” … “let no corrupt word come out of your mouth” … “be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving” … “the greatest among you is called servant” … “your sins are forgiven” … “repay no one evil for evil”. These scriptures only scratch the surface!
Here’s the point: Stop being a selfish pig and be Christ focused. That is the 'work' to be done.
Does it make us feel better; does it stroke our ego to say we’ve worked soo-ho-ho-hooo hard at our marriage? Does this make us martyrs in our own minds, the pains we live through with our spouse and how deserving we would be to walk away?
Christ didn't forsake His bride (who incidentally has committed every sin possible) which He suffered bodily beating and death by torture.Truth be told, our relationships reflect how we limit Christ’s influence in our lives.
Thanks, you, boring, not much fun, righteous, Christ loving, mid-west square, friend! (you don’t even charge $150 clams an hour, counseling fee.)
4 comments:
Amen! And gee what's that scripture about those who choose to teach? Those self-help, Christian self-help, shelf fillers with their slick books and slicker sayings might want to ponder such eh?
Hey what's not in the standard vow, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, 'til death us do part or one day at a time,"?
If Christ dumped us as quick as we dump each other-- yikes.
Enjoyed reading this!
Thank you for your kind comment on mother's photo. Would you believe that I had already posted that and when I was putting the photo away for safe keeping, I saw a faint pencil date on the back 10-31-49. I stopped in my tracks. My daddy passed away on 10-31-98. Mother and Daddy married in 1947. My brother would have been one when the pic of mother was taken. I thought about their long married life and how Christ was the center of their marriage. There were many joys and trials, but always the Lord was with them each step of the way. Mother could have never known the significance of that date 49 years later but oh, how many blessings she and daddy had over those 49 years.
Thought provoking and inspiring post, Mrs. Mike. Thanks! :)
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