One of the great things about the internet is that it provides an international church community.
I might not be able to fly across to Charlotte, NC to hear Steve Furtick at Elevation Church or visit Green Bay, WI to see Mark Gungor at Celebration Church but through the power of technology I can watch or listen to their sermons whenever or wherever I like.
Recently I stumbled across Pete Wilson from Cross Point Church, Nashville. They are currently doing a series called ‘5 Things’, where they are looking at five things which will destroy your marriage. They have labelled the series “An essential guide for those who are married and a cheat sheet for those who are single.”
The five things they have highlighted that will destroy your marriage {in order of the series} are:
- Leftovers
- Expectations
- Leaving God out
- Failing to forgive
- Withheld truth
One thing that stuck out for me in his first teaching on Leftovers (i.e. given your spouse what’s leftover} is that it is “so easy to fall in love, but we’re dangerously ill-equipped to stay in love”.
I love a quote by J.John, which says
‘if there was more courting in marriage, there would be less marriage in court’
If you were rating your marriage today out of 10, what would you give it?
Often it can be so easy to settle for 6/10 marriage because things are ‘fine’, you’re not fighting etc. We should always be striving for 10/10. We need to make a conscious effort to put the love and romance back into our marriages and not to be complacent about it.
Also as a reminder he said that…
Marriage is not a strategy for wholeness.
Marriage is not a cure for loneliness
Marriage is not an escape from boredom
The whole series is addressed to both single and married people and is available online for you to watch or listen. I am following and have been blessed. If you get the opportunity, hope over and have a listen.
In the meantime, here is a fun video Pete made with his wife Brandi about ‘expectations’.
See if you can relate!
Expectations // Illustration from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.
Feel free to share your expectations of marriage in comments!
Thanks for this. Beautiful post. Infact, I think "Leaving God out" should be the first on that list. How to experience a piece of the Garden of Eden? It comes from having a happy marriage where God is both loved and duly revered. I believe everything else can then fall into place.
ReplyDeleteVery true! God is always first in all things. I listed the five things in the order they are being discussed in the series.
ReplyDeletei learned a lesson from this post. Good read
ReplyDelete