Sacred Marriage ~ Part 2

Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make us Holy more than to make us Happy? By Gary Thomas

I just finished reading the book and it is so worth the read! However, you have to do more than read it, you have to apply it. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do with Scripture any way!?! So as I said read it but then start living it out! I am by no means perfect but I aim to do exactly that…

Sadly, I did not remember to take good notes early on in my reading of the book but I finally remembered to start doing that around pg. 109. So although these thoughts may seem totally random they are things that stood out to me or spoke to me, that I want to share with you from the book.

Chapter 7 had some wonderful truths in it … (Ch. 7 ~ Sacred History, Building The Spiritual Discipline of Perseverance) There was discussion on the difficulties during childrearing upon a marriage and of course discussion on divorce. In particular there was a true story – Leslie’s story that is heartbreaking and beautiful… This is a must read chapter.

From pg. 129 “The desire for ease, comfort, and stress-free living is an indirect desire to remain an “unseasoned,” immature Christian. Struggle makes us stronger; it builds up and deepens our faith.” Same page a quote from Gary & Betsy Ricucci, “God doesn’t protect Christians from their problems – He helps them walk victoriously through their problems.”

Ch 10 make me a servant specifically pgs.183-185 brought tears to my eyes… Servant heart and love…

Pg. 187 “…is that the vast majority of people do not enter marriage with a view to becoming a servant.”

The “Worthy” pg. 188 “I reach out to people because God has loved me and has asked me to love others in return, not because the people I am loving are “worthy” of love or because they’ll thank me for it in the end. It’s not for me to make judgments about their “worthiness”. I don’t know how I could do that anyway. It’s for me to love God by loving others. (It has nothing to do with others or myself but everything to do with God – my thoughts on this, so forget self, die to self and live for Christ and His glory).

Look at Jesus’ example (pg. 189) …Washing the disciples feet who would all abandon him within a few hours… even washing the feet of Judas who was just hours away from betraying him. He knew what was coming still He washed their feet… He honored and obeyed God and showed love to those who did not deserve it … God doesn’t call us to serve those who deserve it or will serve us back… He calls us to love (even our enemies, not that our spouse is our enemy but in some marriages, this is my thoughts, it can seem that way at times and be so one-sided).

See also the Spirit of Service…within this section on pg. 191 “To become a servant is to become radically strong spiritually. It means you are free from the petty demands and grievances that ruin so many lives and turn so many hearts into bitter cauldrons of disappointment, self-absorption, and self-pity. There is true joy when true service is offered up with a true heart.”

Quote from page 236. “Christianity does not direct us to focus on finding the right person; it calls us to become the right person.” … He then quotes Augustine’s famous line “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

“One caution here: While our hearts will find their rest only when God is part of the equation, it is a stunning scriptural fact that soon after creating Adam God declared, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18) – even though God delighted in his relationship with the man. Clearly God created us with a need to enjoy other relationships besides himself exclusively, but God must be at the center of our hearts, to which all our other relationships are then added.” Pages 236-7

Enough quotes ... Read the book!