Crazy in Love

This came by email this morning. Sometimes, okay often, I take my husband for granted. He’s been around a long time, after all. Three hundred, eight-seven months to be exact.

He sends me an email like this almost every month. It is usually only the anniversaries that fall on the weekend when he is away from his office, that he misses. Just because he is that romantic.

Unfortunately, I don’t give him the credit he deserves for being so thoughtful. I am blessed. I know not everyone has a marriage with so much love flowing. I recognize it as a gift. Neither one of us was living very close to God when we got married. Sure, we “walked the walk and we talked the talk”;  but there was not enough godly wisdom between the two of us to know that we were the right ones for each other. Frankly, we were immature in our faith and relationship to Jesus.

What we did know was that we needed to build our marriage on the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon that Rock our marriage has held firm. Not only held firm, but flourished. Not one bit on our own strength, you can be sure of that. It is Christ alone!

There is no promise in scripture that we will have happy marriages. In fact there is much more in God’s Word about difficulties in marriages and relationships. The Bible basically tells us as wives to respect and submit to our husbands. It says our husbands are to love us and not to be harsh toward us. Pretty simple instructions.

Then why do so many marriages go bad? There are many reasons, none of them good, most of them rooted in selfishness. Sure, there is scripture that allows for separation, even divorce. That is not God’s plan, though, for His children. His plan is for those He brings together in marriage to stay married.

I know that it is work. Working on our individual relationships with Jesus Christ. As well as making Him the center of our relationship to each other. Being kind and loving year after year is work, too. Trust me, the benefits are worth it!

A young mom recently told me that she prayed several years ago that God would give her a greater passion for her husband. I don’t know the circumstances behind that prayer at all. I do know that she has that desire for him now. Her eyes lit up and sparkled in a way that brought tears to my eyes when she talked  to me about her man.

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells a parable about a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man builds his house on stable ground. Meanwhile the foolish man is building a house on shaky ground. The difficult times come and, sure enough, the foolish man’s house falls apart; and, you guessed it, the wise man’s house stands firm.

The same is true for marriages that are focused on Jesus Christ and glorifying God. He is a Rock that can be built upon and clung to when the storms of life come and try to tear you apart.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24

Crazy in love is a great way of life.