loving your spouse…

Read:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
~1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)

Consider:

If you’ve ever been to a wedding, chances are you’ve heard this verse before. Maybe it was even read at your wedding (or will be one day). The words flow so beautifully and seem as if they were written for the sole purpose of being recited to a bride and groom.  During a wedding, two people are committing to love one another for the rest of their lives with intentions of always being patient and kind… and it seems so perfect and so easy in that moment…but then the rest of their lives begin.

If you’ve been married for a day, a month, a year or 50 years you know that it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Marriage can be messy and ugly sometimes and it is NOT easy, but if love is all of that wonderful stuff stated in 1 Corinthians, then why is marriage so hard?

Well…maybe it’s hard because it’s between two imperfect people living together and trying to do life in a broken, fallen world where responsibility, bills, stress and sin exist.

How then is it possible for any of us to live out this verse in our marriages? 

It starts with a little self-evaluation. If love is patient and kind we need to start asking ourselves if we’re being patient and kind toward our spouse. Are we being arrogant or rude to them? Do we insist on our own ways? Do we welcome the truth when our spouse offers it to us and are we willing to stick with him through all that life brings every single day?

Those are some loaded questions and if we’re being honest with ourselves we probably all have some areas in the “loving our spouse” department that need improvement.

The good news is that Jesus set a pretty good example for us when it comes to love. While we were still sinners, he died for us (Romans 5:8).

The truth is, loving your spouse may be easier than you think. Maybe you just have to start being patient and kind and ridding yourself of envy. Maybe you need to stop boasting or being arrogant or rude. Maybe you need to stop insisting on your way, being irritable and/or resentful. Maybe you need to rejoice in the truth and bear, believe, hope and endure all things with your spouse. When YOU start being more like love, chances are loving is going to become a whole lot easier in your marriage and any relationship for that matter.

Breathe:

Breath in all that love is…exhale all that it is not…

Do you love your spouse with a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love?

What are you going to do to start loving him with this as your model?

Pray:

Lord, we are imperfect people living in a fallen world. Your love is perfect. Forgive me when I do not love with a 1 Corinthians kind of love. Give me gentle reminders daily that help me remember what love really is. May I love my spouse the way you intended me to.  

Today’s post was written by Amanda Sanders.

 Amanda has been married to her high school sweet heart Matt for 11 years. Together they have three kids ages 8, 6 and 3. In this season of life, Amanda spends most of her time drinking coffee, teaching children, doing laundry and repeating herself. Occasionally, she has some time for working out, reading for leisure and writing. You can find her on Sunday mornings worshiping at our Real Life UCF campus.