As learnt in yesterday’s devotional, love is the foundation upon which Christian marriage is built on. Even though, husband and wife always complain that their spouse fall short of giving him or her enough love; we were told yesterday that giving out love is the responsibility of both parties. Whoever expects to be loved has to sow love into his or her partner. In today’s devotional, we will be looking at how to act love instead of murmuring against not being loved in marriage. Acting love here means building our marriage relationships by what we do to loving our partner.
Both the husbands and wives are to seek ways of building marital relationships. They are to search ways to define, protect and promote themselves mutually, instead of picking at each other in any slightest provocation. They are to be committed to one another’s nurturing in their relationships. They are to ensure they nurture and develop each other’s character, habits as well as attitudes. This enables them see good things emerging out of those traits seem out of order in their partners’ lives. One Juliana Baggio, while talking about commitment to love in marriage said: “Love is more than powerful feeling. Without commitment it is a mere infatuation, without passion is a mere dedication. Without nurturing, even the best can wither or die.”
Another way you should act love to be loved in marriage is by making sure you produce perfection from the imperfection of your partner. Husbands and wives, by loving attitudes, should follow themselves patiently with an aim of producing a perfect partner from imperfect partner in marriage. This is why the Bible says “Love is patient” (1 Cor. 13: 4). One Sam Keen on perfect and imperfection in marriage said: “We come to live not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.”
It is important to include here that, in order to act love to be loved, husbands and wives are to seek for each other’s interests and meet the interests.
Marriage will always suffer from disloyalty, if both husbands and wives embark on “Self-seeking-love” where each seeks to be loved only. Love in Christians’ marriage ought not to go for what pleases self but what pleases the other partner. Christian husbands and wives must apply the Biblical injunctions to pleasing others in 1 Cor. 10: 24 and Phil. 2: 4 to their marriage. The Bible says: “Nobody should seek his own good but for the good of others”; “Each of you should not look for your own interest, but also to the interest of others (1Cor. 10:24; Phil. 2: 4).
Husbands and wives who apply the few suggested applications of love in their marriage will enjoy real love from each other.
PRAYER:
O GOD my Father, kindly make me to be building up my spouse and be selflessly committed to my partner’s interests in Jesus name.
POSITIVE DECLARATION:
I see myself from today a potter house of my spouse to mold him/her into a perfect person.
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch