I
believe if you some important commitments and keep then you will literally fail
proof your marriage. There's are
expectations about what relationships and especially marriage are going to be
like one day, and a lot of times when marriage doesn't meet our expectations
there let downs, disappointments, hurt, pain, disappointment, anger, divorce
and such. Maybe you have been wounded in
relationships, or maybe you're in one that is in bad shape now.
"Is
a good marriage even possible?" people ask. In last Sunday’s sermon I gave an answer to
emphatically say YES, it is possible; but let’s be honest and realize it's not
likely if you do what everyone else in our society does.
Statistics
about marriage are horrifying; they say about 50% of the marriages that start
will not make it. Further, the younger
you are, the less likely your marriage is to make it. And of those 50% or so that do make it, the
vast majority of them are miserable, don't really have any intimacy, just
sticking together for the sake of the kids, and so the odds are stacked against
us if you do what everyone else does.
What other significant area of your life are you satisfied with 50% odds
against you?
Our
world is crazy. You can't get a driver's
permit without taking a class; but you can get a marriage license for a small
sum of money and with no preparation!
It’s time that the church and mature Christians begin to in our and
others marriages. If you're not married,
I pray you will do things differently than this world. Do things God's way because you're not making
a legal agreement but making a spiritual covenant with our Holy God and asking
God to give us the kind of marriage that He wants us to have.
Here
are the five commitments that we are going to make and discuss the next five
weeks: Seek God, Fight fair, Have fun, Stay pure, and We never give up. If we make those commitments, we will fail
proof our marriages.
We
have things out of order. We must
believe that “God is our One and our spouse is our two”. The most important foundational principle
about having any lasting relationship is this: God is our One.
When
Jesus was asked, "What is the most important commandment?" He didn't
say, 'Love your spouse with all of your mind all of your soul, all of your
heart and all of your strength.' He essentially said God is your One; make Him
your One,
Matthew 22:37-39 NLT
37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all
your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest
commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.
Above
all else, seek God. Make Him number one
and above all else
Matthew 6:33 NLT
Seek the Kingdom of God
above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
If
you hope to have a godly marriage, live a godly life today. Seek God today and become
the kind of person that you'd like to marry.
Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB
But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all
your heart and all your soul.
Hebrews 11:6 NASB
And without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for
he who comes to God must believe
that He is and that He is a
rewarder of those who seek Him.
For
God to be first in our lives we have to make some choices, hard choices and
decisions that go beyond the people around us.
People will fail us, but God will never fail us. Who takes the places of God in your life?
Matthew 10:37 NLT
“If you love your father or mother more than
you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or
daughter more than me, you are
not worthy of being mine.
Often
we put undue pressure on people who are incapable of meeting our needs. In fact
we idolize them, and they let us down.
That’s when we don't demonize them; it starts out that they are the
greatest person in the world and ends us with pain and destructive.
Create
habits. Certain good habits if you do
they create forward momentum into other good habits. There are also those
habits that if you don't do those things they create negative momentum into
negative habits.
By
creating the habit of praying together we will build stronger relationships and
better marriages. That is because we are
seeking God together. Praying together
is powerful. It is a powerful bond that
God builds and puts in our lives because we have chosen to put God in His
proper places in our lives and in our relationships.
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT
Then if my people who are
called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and
restore their land.
As
we seek God our relationships will get stronger. Join us at The Community Fellowship on Sunday
or continue to follow these posts as we discuss commitments that will make our
relationship last.
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