Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Blog Book Study: Sacred Marriage, Chapter 5

Jenn is hosting a link-up of all the bloggers participating in the study of Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. If you’d like to see my thoughts on previous chapters, click here.

Chapter 5: The Soul’s Embrace: Good Marriage Fosters Good Prayer

Here’s a quote from Chapter 5:

“In fact, much Christian teaching has gotten it exactly backwards. We’re told that if we want to have a stronger marriage, we should improve our prayer lives. But Peter tells us that we should improve our marriages so that we can improve our prayer lives. Instead of prayer being the “tool” that will refine my marriage, Peter tells me that marriage is the tool that will refine my prayers!”

I never thought of it that way. I guess I wasn’t paying attention when Peter was talking. We already know that if we have things between us and someone else, we should rectify them before going to God. But have you ever thought about that in relation to your spouse? I really hadn’t. And the scripture doesn’t leave them out!

In order to maintain a good prayer life, we must forgive. Reconcile. Honor. Respect. Not that any one of us is perfect, because we aren’t. But when disagreements happen, feelings are hurt, and toes are stepped on, we have to remember that in order to have a clear channel to God, we have to first clear things up with each other. It really shouldn’t be that hard. Your spouse is the person you know the best and you share everything with. So why is it so hard to say, “I’m sorry” sometimes?

Personally, I don’t like to be wrong. Shocking, I know. I’d rather just leave “sorry” unsaid sometimes. You know, the silent nod or hug. But that’s not good enough. Because if things aren’t cleared up, it’s not just my prayer life that suffers, his does too.

So that makes us both responsible to clear the air, to make sure things are good between us. I can’t do it on my own, and neither can he. Funny how that works, huh? It’s almost like God planned it that way.

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