Where does that nagging ache in your marriage come from?

A few months ago I read another wonderful book about marriage.  I haven’t been blogging much lately but ran across my notes and couldn’t help but feel God’s timing might be in my posting something on the topic of marriage today. It’s my prayer that some of our readers be encouraged, spurred on and empowered by these wonderful truths from Gary Thomas as I’ve paraphrased from Sacred Marriage.

Don’t be surprised when you become disillusioned by your spouse. He/she was never intended to fully satisfy you. The marriage relationship was designed to point us to our need for Christ and form us into His image.

God delighted in giving us an exclusive relationship to enjoy with our spouse BUT, in order for that relationship to thrive, it is essential that God remain at the center of our hearts. Our ultimate fulfillment comes from God and the marriage relationship is just added blessing — not the other way around.

“As odd as it may sound, I have discovered in my own life that my satisfaction or dissatisfaction with my marriage has far more to do with my relationship to God than it does with my relationship to (my spouse). When my heart grows cold toward my God, my other relationships suffer, so if I sense a burgeoning alienation from, or lack of affection toward, my wife, the first place I look is how I’m doing with the Lord. (My spouse) is, quite literally, my God-thermometer.” (Sacred Marriage, p. 237)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Read Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 2:24 and thank God for the holy (though imperfect) union of your marriage.  Every time your spouse disappoints you this week, pray this prayer:

“That’s why I need you, O God!”