It’s “Love Month” ~ February. This year, Jim and I will be married 19 years. I am still learning every single day. Thank you, Lord. Please, if you are the commenting type, share something God is teaching you!!
One thing the Lord impressed upon my heart early in our marriage was to always remember that my husband was and is my brother in Christ first. Jim and I are God’s children first. God then brought us together beautifully as husband and wife. This is one amazing aspect of Christian marriage that keeps me grounded in Him.
This true perspective of our relationships with God and each other brings an immediate reverence for God and for my husband. If I look at him only as “my husband”, my fleshy self can become entitled and self-righteous. Tapping my toe with hands on hips, I could begin to make selfish demands, spoken and unspoken. This is damaging. My husband is the head of our home. I genuinely love and respect my husband deeply, yet my sin nature can be destructive if my heart is not yielded to the Holy Spirit. I want to be the wise woman who builds her house, not the foolish one who tears it down with her own hands. “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” (Proverbs 14:1 NIV)
When my heart is aligned with God’s Word, I am humbled and thankful acknowledging that Jim is my precious brother in Christ. Self-righteous entitlement falls away. I am more gracious, more merciful and readily able to speak the truth in love as Jim’s wife, seeing him as God’s son, my brother and my husband. I serve him with joy. My toes stop tapping and my hands go from being on my hips to humble hands outstretched to God.
When Jim is loving me as God’s daughter, his sister in the Lord and his wife, his words are more gentle, he is able to compassionately point me to Jesus when I falter, and he more readily loves me as Christ loves the church. I am his sister, his bride. I love that.
Being brother and sister in Christ is a unique, beautiful and solid foundation in a Christian marriage. As I desire to honor God with my marriage, I want to always remember that my spouse is my sibling in Christ first. As I serve him as unto the Lord, God bring beautiful blessings, fruit and growth.