Marriage

I just felt led to share this.... Marriage is hard!! Duh! We watched the movie Fireproof last night and if you haven't seen you need to whether you are married or not. God's idea of marriage is so different than what the world has turned it into! When we marry someone we make a covenant with God and our spouse that we are choosing that person for LIFE. It doesn't matter how hard it gets its for life! We are not in marriage for someone else to make US happy but to grow as much as we can and to help the other person grow as well. We all have times when we feel that our spouse doesn't deserve for us to be extra nice or even deserve our love! God loved all of us enough to die for us even while we were still sinners!! That means we don't deserve it but he does it anyway becuase he LOVES us! We don't always "feel" love but we choose it everyday! God just reaffirmed this to me as I was reading Sandy Mae of Like a Warm Cup of Coffee this AM.

Can we just soak a magnificent truth in awhile? The truth that we have a God who is so in love with us that He gave us a relationship (marriage) on earth to show just how faithful He is.Marriage is hard! Can I get an AMEN?! Guess what must be harder? Creating people in your own image and having them leave you for someone or something else. Having them completely rebel against you. Not only do they rebel, but they do horrible things to each other and all that you have created.Imagine loving someone and they left you heart broken.God's heart must have been broken when Adam and Eve trusted a snake over the goodness of God. His heart breaks now for those who still don't trust His goodness.I don't know what you would do if your spouse cheated on you, said horrible untruths about you, and/or did wicked things to your family, but I know what God did when all these things happened to Him.He came to earth to tell His beloved to come back to Him. Then, to show His beloved how faithful He was even though they weren't, He died on a cross naked and shamed to take their place...our place...He got what we deserved.Then...He showed His power - He came back to life. He wants you to join Him - whether that be a new life with Him, believing Him and giving your life to Him, or a renewed life.

He's waiting. Go.

“Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God. It displays the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people to the world in a way that no other event or institution does. Marriage, therefore, is not mainly about being in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. And staying married is not about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant and putting the glory of Christ’s covenant-keeping love on display.” John Piper, The Momentary Marriage

I hope those of you who are married find some encouragement in the rough times in the way GOd loves us! If you aren't married keep in mind what God's picture of marriage is. Yes there are wonderful times and marriage is great but know you are choosing to make a COVENANT and not a CONTRACT that you can get out of when it gets hard!