28 Sept. The key to a long and happy marriage
"Yield to obey each other because you respect Christ."
"Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord...
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it..."
"The man who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church, because we are parts of his body."
"The Scripture says, 'So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.' [Genesis 2:24] That secret is very important - I am talking about Christ and the church."
"But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself, and a wife must respect her husband."
(Ephesians 5:21-33)
We've deliberately cut out some of Paul's extensive argument from today's reading from his Letter to the Ephesians as it's so easy to lose the message in the complex detail of Paul's writing.
And the message here is really clear - it's all about respect for the other person. Or, in even simpler words, a happy marriage is all about putting your partner first.
Paul reminds his readers that Christ put us first. He is the epitome of selfless love. He could have saved himself from a cruel death on the cross, but he put us first, so we could have a new and eternal relationship with God.
And Christian marriage is about that same kind of love. Unselfish love - putting someone else's needs and happiness before your own.
In the modern secular world where the emphasis is on people's individual rights rather than their responsibility to others, it's hardly surprising that most people are completely selfish and base their lives on me, me, me. And marriages (and other relationships) fall apart because people put their own happiness before that of their partner.
But Jesus Christ taught his followers to put others first; and THAT is the key to a long and happy marriage. It doesn't mean that you will always agree about everything, but it does mean that you will respect your partner's views, and put their happiness and security before your own.
The photo shows a Christian couple who have been happily married for over 50 years. Guess who (and where)??
You can read more from St Paul about the keys to successful married life @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/15-pauls-le…/the-new-life/