Every Marriage Needs Four Things

Admin Sat 23 May 2015, 3:19 pm

Every Marriage Needs Four Things
By Kent Crockett
A party was thrown in honor of a couple's 50th wedding
anniversary. The husband wanted to honor his wife, who
was hard of hearing. In the presence of all, he said,
"My dear wife, after fifty years I've found you tried
and true!"
Everyone clapped but his wife looked bothered. She
loudly asked, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
He spoke louder, "After fifty years of being married
I've found you tried and true!"
The upset wife shouted back, "And after fifty years of
marriage I'm tired of you, too!" Four things will keep
you from getting tired of your spouse and will insure a
happy marriage.
1. Commitment--holds your marriage together. A marriage
is only as strong as the husband's and wife's
commitment to the Lord. If your spouse is faithful to
the Lord, he or she will also be faithful to you. A
study on marriage revealed that the divorce rate for a
married couple who attended church every week,
regularly read the Bible, and prayed together at least
once a day was 1 in 1,015.
2. Caring--keeps the love alive. If your marriage has
lost its love, the Lord can resurrect it because "God
is love" (1 John 4:8). He will show you what to do
because we are "taught by God to love one another" (1
Thess. 4:9).
3. Compromise--minimizes your differences. Compromise
doesn't mean that you violate your integrity, but that
you negotiate your differences and come to an
agreement. "Do not merely look out for your own
interests, but also for the interest of others" (Phil.
2:4). My wife and I used to argue about where to set
the thermostat in the house. I like it 76 degrees and
she wants it 72 degrees. We agreed to set the
thermostat at 74 degrees. End of argument. If you are
arguing about issues, figure out how to meet in the
middle and quit fighting about it.
4. Communication--makes marriage run smoothly.
Communication stops when yelling begins. If a husband
and wife don't enjoy talking to each other, they will
drift apart and the marriage will slowly die. Learn to
talk positively about what interests your spouse.
It will take both spouses doing these four things to
make your marriage work, but change usually starts with
one spouse taking the initiative. You make the first
move and let God deal with your spouse.
www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com
www.makinglifecount.net
Making Life Count Ministries
P.O. Box 680174
Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174