Saturday, July 12, 2008

MORE THAN A FEELING

Genesis 24: 61 – 67

A man went to his pastor for counseling. In his hands were pages of complaints against his wife. After hours of uninterrupted listening, the pastor couldn’t help but ask, “If she is that bad, why did you marry her?” Immediately the man shot back, “She wasn’t like this at first!” The pastor, unable to hold back his thoughts, asked, “So, are you saying that she is like this because she’s been married to you?”
So, whats the deal with love in marriage? Many people fall in love then get married, while others do the opposite, usually through an arranged marriage. It is apparent to me that love in a marriage is more than a feeling; it is a commitment to that marriage.
67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebecca. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Ge 29:18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."
The Bible gives us examples of love in marriage; Isaac married Rebecca, then fell in love with her, while Jacob fell in love with Rachel and worked for her father for seven years before being allowed to marry her. Neither relationship was perfect, they had there bumps in the road, but they lasted their lifetimes.
As I said, love has to be more than a feeling. Why? Because the divorce rate is over 50% and because of that we suffer and our children suffer. Love has to be a commitment to the person we have married. Biblical love is about our willingness to do what is good for another. Husbands are instructed to “love their own wives as their own bodies” (Eph. 5:28). So, walking in obedience to the Lord, let’s keep our marriage vows to love “till death do us part”.


“For better or for worse,” we pledge,
“Through sickness and through strife”;
And by the help and grace of GodWe’ll keep these vows for life. —D. De Haan





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