A Sacred Marriage

The last couple of weeks I have been listening to some broadcast from Focus on the Family that have been really good.  Two that I really enjoyed were God's Sacred Design for Marriage (Part 1 and 2).  So often we hear or have told our kids that we want them to be holy_to be set apart-to be dedicated to God.  We have heard and tell them that this comes before their happiness.  Have you heard this or said this to your kids?  To me, it's been always been pretty easy to say.  In our house Zeb and I are trying, by God's grace and with His help, to rear our kids to love and serve Him.  We try to make our decisions based on what he has commanded us in His Word.

  These broadcasts really rocked my thinking.  Gary Thomas (the man on the broadcast) posed the question, "What if God designed marriage to make us holy and not happy?"  I have to admit, I have never really thought of it that way.  It kind of hit me in the gut.  It's a lot easier to say this to  my kids than to apply it to myself.  It's not about our happiness.  Nothing is.  It's about being more and more Christlike (Matthew 5:48, James 1:4).  This is in complete contrast to what the world is telling us.  We hear constantly from everywhere if you aren't happy just give up because we deserve to be happy.  That should not be our attitude.  God designed marriage and uses it as a tool to sanctify us.

Anyway, this is just something that I have really been thinking about.  I know from my conversations with friends this has been on their mind too. We need to be in constant prayer for our marriages, for our friends marriages, and for our children's future spouse. May our marriages be sacred. May God be our guide. May He use our marriages to make us more like Him and closer to Him.

I would really encourage you to go to the Focus on the Family website. I have the Focus Daily app.  That makes it easy to listen when I'm cooking or doing carpool.  I am sure there are many ways to get these broadcasts, but you can type "God's Sacred Design for Marriage" in the search blank on the website and then click on video and audio only. It's worth your time to listen.