|
February is Valentine’s Day month! And
maybe it is a good idea to look at the subject of love and
marriage this month. I found a very interesting article of Kevin
Miller that deals with this topic. Kevin writes that almost
every marriage starts out as a huge celebration. Together with
their family and friends, each couple is full of hopes and
dreams for their future life together. But the road to a happy
marriage is far from easy. And as today’s divorce statistics
demonstrate all too well, many couples opt not to complete the
journey.
It would be easy to blame our high rate of marital failure on
things like not spending enough quality time together, allowing
bitterness and resentment to build in our hearts and failing to
keep communication lines open. There’s no end to books, articles
and seminars that tell you how to improve these and many other
aspects of your relationship. But while quality time,
forgiveness and communication are vitally important to creating
a happy marriage, if such things aren’t happening, it’s usually
a sign of a much deeper problem. To get a hint of what this
deeper issue might be, let’s take a look at the following
Scripture passage from Matthew 22:35-40: “One of them, an expert
in the law, tested Jesus with this question: “Teacher, which is
the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All
the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:35-40)
I believe that virtually every marital problem can be traced
back to one or both partners failing to abide by these two laws.
The same is true of any relationship. The minute we begin to
focus on our own wants and needs over those of God or our
partner; we’re destined for trouble.
When we start to shift our focus away from ourselves and our
desires and over to God and our partner, we will experience, as
a result, that communication problems begin to improve, anger
and resentment fade away and you naturally want to spend more
time together. Of course, you can’t expect such changes to
happen overnight. But if we commit our relationship to God and
make a conscious decision each day to put God and our partner
first, our marriage will be able to weather any storm. And with
these thoughts in our minds: To all our readers a Happy
Valentine’s Day!
Deutsche Evangeliumskirche
|
|
