I have been thinking a lot about the relationship of husband and wife lately.  I preached on this subject Sunday and have continued ruminating on the subject since. 

First of all marriage is a covenant, a promise made before God and to one another,  When we even think that we can break that promise we are on a path that will lead to the fall of a marriage.  We must not allow ourselves to make provision for a way out of the promise we have made.  We as Christians speak of the sanctity of marriage and preach loud and strong about what a family is but are very lax in our view of the bonds of marriage and the sanctity of that bond.  We need to remember that marriage is not about our happiness but like every other area of our life it is about obediance. 

I believe that we as modern Christians think that God is overly concerned with our happiness.  I believe God is interested in our happiness, but our happiness is found in our obedience to Him.  True happiness is tied to our following of God and lifting Him up in and through our lives.  Maybe happiness is the wrong word, maybe I should say that God is interested in our joy.

We get too interested in what we can get out of marriage but our Christian life is not supposed to be about us.  Paul says in Philippians 2:3,4, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."  We are supposed to be looking out for the interest of others, and in marriage that means the interest of our spouse. 

I am convinced that our joy and happiness in life is not dependant on others but on us.  We look too much to circumstances to make us joyful when we need to look upward and see what God has done for us and live in light of that.  It is entirely possible and probable that the reason most people are miserable is themselves.  They allow themselves to be miserable.  I tell my kids sometimes when they get to being bad that they cannot rob me of my joy.  Neither should we let marriage circumstances, children or other things rob us of the joy we have in Christ. Listen to Paul tell the church at Thessalonica that despite their suffering their joy came through the Holy Spirit. "And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 1:16

May we live obediently bringing praise to the Savior. Because of Him, Pastor.