Serving Together

We have been asked the question a lot lately, "How is marriage?"  It's a funny question, and we often are not sure what people mean-- what part of marriage are they asking about?  Usually, we say, "It's great!"  And it really is, but next time we get asked that question, maybe we should go a little deeper.  He is doing GREAT things through our marriage, and that isn't only in our own lives, but also in the lives of those around us.  It's not all about us!

Francis Chan said it well in his blog post, Marriage on the Edge of Eternity:  life isn't about marriage.  And the Word certainly wasn't written with marriage at the focus-- the Father is the center of every story and every part of His Word.  Everything points back to Him.  Literally everything-- even those super long family lineage lists that a lot of us skip over.  

"I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Father (1 Co. 7:35)."

Our marriage should reflect a life on a mission:  to seek out souls for Him and to bring Him glory.  We answered that call even before we knew each other, when we were single.  Marriage is no different; we are [hopefully] even more effective in bringing others into the Kingdom now that we're married.  He wants our undivided attention, so nothing and no one should get in the way.  We are constantly asking Him to give us the ability to do that, and sometimes it is difficult!  It's so easy to get distracted by each other (or by the kitten we rescued), but we're called to completely surrender to our Father and to fight this very real battle together. 

"Being in war together may be what keeps us from being at war with each other.  Rather than neglecting the battle to work on your marriage, maybe the best thing for your marriage is to enter the battlefield together." (Francis Chan)

Vaughn, the most adorable kitten you will ever meet

~Jesse & Sara