Practical and biblical advice on Christian marriage
Marriage is thought to be a joyful and sacred union in Christian life, but for some it can become a complex and stimulating effort. Maybe you found yourself in an unhappy marriage, simply enduring a painful and difficult relationship.
The truth is, building a healthy marriage and keeping it strong requires work. However, the benefits of this effort are invaluable and immeasurable. Before giving up, consider some Christian marriage advice that can bring hope and faith to your seemingly impossible situation.
How to build your Christian wedding
While loving and lasting in marriage requires deliberate effort, it's not that complicated if you start with some basic principles. The first is to build your marriage on solid foundations: your faith in Jesus Christ. The second is to maintain an unshakable commitment to making your marriage work. These two basic principles can be greatly strengthened by regularly practicing five simple activities:
Praying together: take time to pray with your spouse every day. Prayer not only brings you closer to each other, but deeply strengthens your relationships with the Lord.
Reading the Bible Together: Reserve regular times to read the Bible and have devotions together. How to pray together, sharing the Word of God will greatly enrich your marriage. As you both allow the Lord and his Word to transform from the inside out, you will become more in love with each other and in your devotion to Christ.
Make important decisions together: agree to make important decisions, such as managing finances, together. You won't be able to hide secrets from us if you commit to making all the important family decisions together. This is one of the best ways to develop mutual trust and respect as a couple.
Attend church together: Find a church where you and your spouse can worship, serve, and make Christian friends together. The Bible says in Hebrews 10: 24-25 that one of the best ways to elicit love and encourage good deeds is to remain faithful to the body of Christ. Being involved in a church also provides your family with a secure support system for friends and counselors to help you through difficult times in life.
Feed your romance: keep going out and develop your romance. Married couples often overlook this area, especially when they start having children. Keeping the romance alive will require some planning, but it is vital for maintaining intimacy in marriage. Never stop doing and saying the romantic things you did when you fell in love for the first time. Hug, kiss and say that I love you often. Listen to your spouse, hold hands and take walks on the beach at sunset. Hold your hands. Be kind and considerate of each other. Show respect, laugh together and notice when your spouse does something nice for you. Remember to admire and celebrate each other's successes in life.
If you both do only these five things, not only is your marriage practically guaranteed to last, it will boldly testify to God's plan for Christian marriage.
Because God designed Christian marriage
The last resort to building a strong Christian marriage is the Bible. If we study what the Bible says about marriage, we will soon discover that marriage was an idea of God from the beginning. It was, in fact, the first institution instituted by God in Genesis, chapter 2.
At the heart of God's plan for marriage are two things: companionship and intimacy. From there the purpose becomes a beautiful illustration of the relationship of holy and divinely established covenant between Jesus Christ and his Bride (the church), or the body of Christ.
It might shock you to learn it, but God didn't plan marriage just to make you happy. The ultimate purpose of God in marriage is for couples to grow together in holiness.
What about divorce and new marriage?
Most Bible-based churches teach that divorce should only be viewed as a last resort after any possible effort towards reconciliation has failed. Just as the Bible teaches us to enter marriage carefully and reverently, divorce must be avoided at all costs. This study attempts to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about divorce and new marriage.