I Love My Spouse! . . . Like Christ Loved The Church?
Verse 1 speaks about setting our sights on the realities of heaven. We have the ability to set or dictate the direction of our thoughts. We have a choice about which reality to focus on. The text specifies our thinking should not being on things concerning the earth, but of heaven. Earth is full of every negative thing sin and the sinful nature could create from infidelity to all kinds of lack. Is this really the reality you want to focus on? No. Instead re-focus your vision, thoughts, and speech to the reality of heaven.
"Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." - The Lord's Prayer
God's will for you is the reality of heaven. Do God's will in your marriage.
- Pray together - Talk about what God is talking about rather than what you've arguing about. Invite God to change your conversation.
- Produce together - do the fruit of the spirit instead of just partaking of it. Be patient. Give forgiveness. Learn to forget offenses. Be kind to one another. Be as gentle as God is toward you.
- Praise together - celebrate God in order to learn to celebrate each other. Learning to place God above yourself is the beginning of a habit of humbleness and submission within your marriage.
Verse 8 specifies now is the time to get rid of the negative behavior which plagued your life before receiving salvation. Yes, now, in the middle of the argument or now when you're about to make the wrong phone call. This is the behavior you probably labeled as "That's just how I am; take it or leave it." Well, the word of God says leave it. This behavior cannot coexist with the character of God within you.
Verse 10 gives four directives: put on your new nature; be renewed; learn to know your Creator; and become like him. There is no short cut to this in your marriage. Your new nature is the exact opposite of your pre-salvation thought process. Practice the behavior of Christ repeatedly until it is a continuous habit. There is always something new to learn about God. Therefore, your renewal should be on-going.
Verse 13 is about forgiveness. I don't know about you, but forgiveness has been a process for me. Usually, I can forgive better when I completely remove myself from the person or thing which offended me, but not so in marriage. Forgiveness is the cornerstone of marriage. God forgave us because we're imperfect and prone to make mistakes. That's the consequence of sin entering the world. It was nothing we could save ourselves from. So how then, can we, two imperfect people in covenant with God, not choose to forgive each other when God's forgiveness is perpetual? Our imperfections are equal in God's eyes and he has not left. He's not going to leave. Are you?
Verse 17 again kills the excuse, "That's just how God made me; take it or leave it." Stop lying on God. We were made in the image of Christ. We represent or reflect Christ. Don't do you; do you as Christ. Our speech and actions directly reflect him. Have you ever given a person a reference to a good job and they take the position and botch it? When they get fired you look like the fool; unreliable as a good judge of character. Now, your word is tarnished. Don't let that be how you represent Christ in your marriage or in the Earth. Our lives are sometimes the only Bible other people will ever read. This verse also reference Christ as our Lord. This is important because it reminds us "Lord" is a title. As Lord, Jesus is our authority figure and primary influence. We are not only his brothers and sisters, bridegroom, and representatives, but his subjects. We must submit to his authority in our marriages with our actions.
So, when you look in the mirror of your marriage work toward knowing what you would you based on what Jesus does. Welcome to The Marriage Mirror Challenge!
This week's #RomanTech is Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors":
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