Marriage: A Life's Journey

I missed my personal bible study time yesterday so today you are going to get a double dose.  I hope that's alright with you? 

Yesterday - 2/6/2014
Hebrews 13:4
"4Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."(NKJV)

Epic Love in Marriage:
In the blockbuster movie Titanic, audiences were infatuated with the love story between the main characters, Jack and Rose. It was a romance of such epic proportions it could only exist in the movies, right? Well … not so fast.

Aboard the Titanic when it sank in the Atlantic Ocean’s frigid waters on April 15, 1912, there was a married couple. As the terror of that tragic journey unfolded, the couple knew that after forty years of marriage they were about to spend their last moments together. “Women and children first” was conventional protocol at the time, of course, which meant that the woman would have to leave behind her beloved husband. But when the moment came, she refused, saying, “As we have lived, so we will die … together.” Numerous accounts of that night indicate the couple then settled into deck chairs and held hands, waiting for the inevitable.

The phrase “‘til death do us part” lies at the heart of traditional marriage vows. Unfortunately, its meaning has become more of a romantic novelty than a sacred, God-honoring commitment. And that’s why few couples are able to have in real life the marriage they’ve so often dreamed about. You see, the amazing love illustrated in the lives of this couple doesn’t magically arise in a moment of crisis. It’s the result of a husband and wife living out their love for one another and honoring their marriage vows each and every day. 






Today - 2/7/2014
Ephesians 4:15
"15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" (NKJV)

Loving the Stranger:
You wouldn’t marry a complete stranger, would you? Well – surprise! – if you’re married, that’s exactly what you’ve done.

On our wedding day, we all innocently believe the same myth: that we know and understand the person we’re marrying. But every newlywed eventually discovers that getting to know the depths of someone’s heart takes years. That’s the nature of relationship, especially one as intimate as marriage. So in that sense, we all marry a stranger. We’re in love with what little we know about our spouse, but we don’t know them. Not really.

Maybe that’s why Stanley Hauerwas defines a successful marriage as “learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.” What does he mean? Simply this: In countless ways, the person we commit to on our wedding day will not be the same person five, ten, or twenty years from now. In fact, neither will we. Marriage changes us. So does raising children, careers, the aging process, and other significant events in our lives.

That’s why it’s important to understand that marriage is not a stopping point where we instantly know our spouse fully and completely. It’s a journey through life between a man and woman, both of whom continually grow and change across their years together. As one speaker said, “When people get married, they tend to believe they’ve found a finished statue, when in reality, they’ve merely found the block of marble from which their spouse will emerge.” Commit to loving your spouse and helping them grow more Christ-like each day.