I've done a lot of thinking about marriage this week. I have two friends for whom I get to perform the ceremony this weekend, so I've been working on a wedding sermon. I have spent a lot of time reflecting over the past 2 weeks about how well the Queen and I seem to be doing in the marriage department, enjoying our kids, the challenges, and one another.
I guess you can say I'm a fan.
Part of the reason I'm such a fan is how much it works on me and gives glory to God.
Yes. I put them in that order because it so often works on me that you could call it constant. I know that God doesn't always get the glory He deserves from my marriage, though I want Him to.
Marriage is a process, a proven tool of sanctification. If that's a big Bible word for you, it simply means the process of being made holy like God is holy. Marriage does that.
Through the demand for selflessness.
Through the call to other-thoughtfulness.
Through the surrender of desire A in place of outcome B.
Those are all Christian traits. And marriage, maybe more than any other Christian environment, has the capacity and the success rate of driving The Golden Rule down into the soul of an individual. And here's the kicker: that happens even if it only goes down into one spouse and the other remains a total oaf.
Marriage is also a great mirror from which God can receive reflected glory. I'll never forget a relative saying one day to me in another relative's kitchen, "I sure appreciated the way you just talked to the Queen." And without much thought, I simply replied that I was given her by God Himself so my verbal responses needed to reflect that. All of my marriage should be a demonstration of that, bringing God glory.
If you're married, take a moment and thank God (no matter the blissfulness of your wedded bliss at this moment). If you're not, pray for some marriages around you because they surely need it.
No comments:
Post a Comment