{"id":1084,"date":"2012-09-18T21:53:40","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T01:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etheriedge.wordpress.com\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2020-05-04T14:48:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T18:48:23","slug":"marriage-christ-and-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/18\/marriage-christ-and-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Marriage – Christ and the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hope is so vital for any relationship, especially a marriage. God invented it and His word is full of treasure on the topic:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/b>1. From the moment I accept the call to become a follower of Christ, I will grow into a oneness<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0with Him. It\u2019s like a heart, soul and mind-meld with Almighty God; a getting His Spirit all mixed up in my own. amazingly l<\/span>ike marriage which begins with belief and trust in another human to the point that I let down\u00a0all\u00a0your guards, allowing myself to know and be known<\/em><\/strong>. Incredibly vulnerable, but mysteriously unifying.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. As I am encouraged to daily learn all I can<\/em><\/strong>. Read God’s Word, and spend time alone talking with Him keeps my mind meditating\u00a0on His good qualities and attributes.It comes naturally. Learning more about Him makes me fall more in love<\/em><\/strong>. Sounds exactly like my dating and engagement period with my husband. I could not get enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Another step in spiritual growth is opening myself up to change<\/em><\/strong>. Jesus challenges me to throw off my old self and take up a new identity… Him.\u00a0<\/span>Successful marriage requires becoming something new as well. I give up my all-about-me<\/em> attitude and adopt a new all-about-us<\/em> mentality. Even better, is a how-can-I-better-love-you<\/em> spirit. <\/span>A radical idea. No wonder Jesus said, \u201c\u2026But if you\u2019re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Matthew 19:12 msg<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Get involved in fellowship and serving with other believers<\/em><\/strong>. Putting myself in a place with like-minded folks encourages growth.\u00a0<\/span>Every couple needs this as well. When the road gets rough, godly friends will encouraging me<\/strong> <\/em>to stand with my husband and keep fighting for what’s important.\u00a0<\/span>I appreciate all the help I can\u2026 being selfless is not easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. My favorite: God is my amazing hope, even when I have none<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0He’s proven Himself to me by loving me,\u00a0forgiving me, and lavishing me with grace. He’s promised He will never leave me or forsake me and that Jesus is really coming back to take me home with Him for all eternity! In my marriage, my husband and I share the same faith. Each offering\u00a0<\/span>hope when the other has none. A support to believe that things\u00a0will \u00a0work out for good and God’s glory.<\/em>\u00a0Also a dependance on each other for prayer and comfort<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Lastly, I’m offered this amazing connection<\/strong>\u00a0with God<\/strong><\/em>, to then go and share my joy with others. In the same way, the special oneness God has given me with my husband matters. My marriage has a spiritual impact<\/em><\/strong>. It is a constant living example of His union with the church through Christ our Savior. And an amazing<\/span>\u00a0way for His light to shine in a dark world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Be the light!<\/span><\/p>\n

ForGlorySake!<\/strong> -Anna<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cFor this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.\u201d This is a profound mystery\u2014but I am talking about Christ and the church.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Ephesians 5:31-32<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[1284,1159,1285,1286],"class_list":["post-1084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marriage","tag-example","tag-oneness","tag-selfless","tag-union"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUt4s-hu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4965,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/4965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}