Glorifying God Together

Marriage can seem like an impossible task. We spend most of our lives looking out for number 1. Sure we have many moments when we are concerned about the needs of a friend or a relative. When we have been other focused it doesn't take us long to get back to focusing on what we think is most important. "What gives me the most pleasure or satisfaction? How can I treat myself?" As a single person it is much easier to deny how very self centered we are. Usually on the honeymoon or somewhat later we realize that life is not all about us. We make great efforts to deal kindly with our number 1 guy and even what seems like a very selfless moment quickly degenerates to self-centeredness. Every married couple is 2 self centered sinners. How can such a union last? How do 2 people with different goals, family background, and aspirations become a successful marriage?

I am certain that no book on marriage has ever looked to the Westminster Catechism for the basis of marital advice. The first question is clear and to the point.
What is the chief end of man?
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

In some circles we may hear it so many times we are not living in an awareness of its meaning. God does not call us to turn our backs on enjoyment. To the contrary enjoyment is a very important part of what our focus in life should be. Instead of looking to ourselves as the primary source of enjoyment we
must look to God for our enjoyment as we seek to glorify Him.

What would it be like if every Christian couple who married did so with the understanding that their chief end now as a couple is to glorify God and enjoy him forever? What a privilege to walk hand in hand with your spouse along this path. If one of you falls, the spouse lifts the fallen one. If one of you wanders, the one remaining on the path calls the other one back. You will experience failure but by God's grace often shown through your spouse you will be kept safe on the road God has set before you.

In James 1:20 we see that "the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." If you haven't been angry with each other it's bound to happen and for each couple that may look different. In my experience if I am angry righteousness of any kind is far from my thinking. I don't care about my husband's righteousness or my own. I want to be seen as right and my spouse as wrong.

How many problems in marriages might never occur if each of us cared more about God's agenda than our own? How would relationships be transformed if each of us cared about the righteousness of God being produced in the lives of all believers including ourselves?

 Most of us look back on the first few years of our marriage and we are stunned at how immature we were. How blessed are those couples who have the opportunity  to get good counsel and grow as a couple. Remember who you are in Christ and use wisely the resources God has given you.

I'd like to close with Proverbs 3:5,6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths."








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Before Your Eyes and in Front of Your Nose

Recently I read a blog by a man named Jason Helopoulos. He said that many times after church we find ourselves talking to someone who was not on our list. Instead of devoting ourselves to the person in front of us we're looking elsewhere while we are bemoaning missed ministry opportunities on the other side of the room or at the other end of a ringing phone. We often fail to realize that the one in front of our eyes is our ministry opportunity. His blog jogged my memory. One year when we lived in Vermont I did a paper on understanding how God wants us to minister within the church. I called what God would have us do an ifoyn (in front of your nose) ministry. I remembered my friend Mom Walker. She had a son who was college age and he would often invite other students home with him. This ministry came to her. She did not have to agonize about what should she find to do. On Sunday morning as she would greet visitors, she would listen for information that would link this person to so...
Read more

Anticipating a New Arrival, Remembering Old Lessons

I've been a grandmother for a little over 5 years and in April we will be welcoming our fifth grandchild. I wish I had paid a lot more attention to the details of being a mother of small children while I was going through it. I started journals for each of my 4 but I wrote very little. I guess I was too busy living it to write that much. It seems like all  I can remember are inconsequential things like "Very few of your toys made any noise." or embarrassing things like "When you were nursing, you used to always----"  Then I am reminded that because of God's grace there are lessons I remember. Often when a young woman gets married she is told by someone in her world, “ This wedding is all about you.” To be in control , to be able to make as many of her desires happen as possible,  wouldn’t every bride want this? Usually the new couple doesn’t get past the honeymoon before the bride has to drop the “it’s all about me” attitude. If the couple wants the marri...
Read more

A Tale of Two Chairs and a Rug

My mother became a resident of heaven two years ago on March 14. Slowly, initially one by one, pieces of furniture left the family home. I took home a small desk which had been given as a wedding present in the last of the 19th century. Later my brother loaded a piece that had belonged to my grandmother. It was called a pie safe made from a golden colored wood. The front was covered with tin panels punched with a design. The original use was to keep pies safe as they cooled and to keep them protected from impatient family members. For many years I remembered it as the place to find card games. As time went on furniture began to leave at at a more rapid rate. One of the pieces was a recliner that I had asked for. It was a smaller recliner than ours with a greater firmness.  Mom had this recliner for years. For about 2 years of her life she would take naps daily. She would call those naps " toes up", a term used by one of her favorite novelists. Since I have fallen in love wi...
Read more