Crista and I met at Winter Youth Retreat in 1998. I must admit, I was stricken by her at first sight. There was something so graceful and ladylike about her. After WYR, I’m not sure if she thought she would ever see me again, but it was not long until I made the six-hour journey to the little town that she was from. This past March, we celebrated eighteen years of marriage. I am thankful for the wonderful marriage that God has given to us and by His Grace, I trust it will remain that way.
Unfortunately, there are many Christians whose marriages are like drama on steroids. They have enough drama to keep a TV soap opera busy for many years. Why is this often the case? The answer is simple. The marriage is not Christ-centered instead it is me centered. I will be the first to admit, it can be challenging to keep your marriage centered on Christ when every voice in the world says to focus on “me”. We all tend to fight some level of selfishness, especially when it comes to our marriage.
I once heard a true story of a woman who was considering leaving her husband because the spark was no longer there. She called her dad to talk to him about it and was hoping that she would receive his approval. After she spilled out her heart and shared with her father that she was not happy anymore, he spoke to her gently but sternly. “I did not raise you to do what makes you happy, I raised you to do what is right.” You might say, you are oversimplifying a subject that can be very complicated. It is human beings that complicate the God-given institution called marriage. If a husband and wife are truly in love with Christ, then that love will flow over into their marriage. It will not always be easy, but the marriage will be built on a sound foundation and that is Christ.
An older man once gave Crista and I the following advice. “A successful marriage is like a triangle. As long as you are both moving toward the top point, which represents Christ, then you are not only getting closer to God but to each other.”
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephesians 5:33
I’m the son of the King. My wife’s a daughter of a King. How would I treat that King’s daughter? How would she treat that King’s son? Be real genuine. Bro. William Branham
Comments
Br. Michael,
This is so True. Shannon and I celebrated our 30th anniversary the other day. It had been a journey and without Christ, who invented marriage, this journey is seldom navigated successfully.
In your triangle illustration, Christ is at the top, pulling both individuals to Him. We will have a broken communication between the Male and Female (this is another whole article) but as long as they are committed to Christ and are resolved to climb the pyramid sides, they will eventually be reunited in Christ.
Christ
/\
/ \
/ \
— — — —
Male Female
God bless you.
Br. Daniel Andes
Beautiful story about you and Crista and how a true marriage must work. We can’t give up on each other because Crist never gave up on us. Keep climbing toward him. Love it. Thank you for the encouragement. God bless you