The conflict in any relationship is usually do to ungodly behavior in one or both of the parties. That is one reason it must be your top priority to spend time in The Word and praying that God will deepen your relationship in Him. Pray for the fruits of the Spirit to manifest in you abundantly. It’s also your duty to encourage your spouse to grow in his or her relationship with God as well.
But even deeper than that, it’s most important that we don’t loose focus of the purpose of marriage!
Francis Chan writes in an article titled, “Marriage on the Edge of Eternity,”
“It’s understandable that we spend a lot of time teaching through Ephesians 5. After all, families are falling apart…’
‘Because divorce runs so rampant even in the church, it makes sense that we tend to overcompensate by emphasizing marriage more than Scripture does. But by doing so, we may be hurting marriages rather than mending them. Couples become self-centered, rather than mission-focused. Singles who once radically served Jesus now spend their days merely improving and enjoying their marriage. Either that, or they quarrel incessantly and spend their days in counseling and despair. Either way, they become virtually worthless for kingdom purposes…’
‘The goal is “undivided devotion to the Lord.” Meditate on those words. Remember that the Bible is not a book about marriage; it is a book about God. The best thing we can do with our brief lives is to devote ourselves to him and his mission. This is the goal. And marriage can actually help us achieve this goal.”
The goal here is “undivided devotion to the Lord.” Marriage, even the most glorious, fulfilling marriage is not the goal. It’s just a gift God may gives us as we travel through life to help us in our walk with Him. That is also why it’s targeted by the enemy to be made into something profane. This life is short; it’s up to you to allow God to work in your marriage that it may catapult you closer to Him and glorify His name.
1 Corinthians 7:27–29
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.
The awesome thing about being married is that these godly qualities have the potential to develop more over time as your practice Christ-like behavior and attitudes towards your spouse. Thus not only with your romance and love for each other deepen, but you will experience God in a newer and more powerful way than ever before as your heart becomes like His.
Sources:
Francis Chan, “Marriage on the Edge of Eternity.” 17, October 2014
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/marriage-on-the-edge-of-eternity 9/28/17
Anna Sojourning 