The Unlimited Partnership

“When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” – C. S. Lewis.

Someone has said that marriage is like flies on a screen door. Those that are in want out, and those that are out want in. People have the best of intentions when they get married, yet many marriages fail. But in all the marriages I have presided over and all those I have attended, I don’t ever recall a couple saying, “Well, our intention is to have a miserable marriage.” But in some cases that is exactly what happens.

The real purpose of marriage is to reveal God. It’s to make God look good. Unfortunately, many marriages don’t do that, but that was the original intention and if we want to go back to the beginning and read the owner’s manual we have to turn once again to Genesis 2 where it’s all laid out for us. Genesis 2:24 says, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”  This passage tells us that one plus one equals one. The question is are we ready for the commitment and the participation that simple equation requires?

God has designed marriage to be a wonderful partnership between a man and a woman, one that helps them both pursue Christ-likeness while fulfilling what God wants them to do. It’s a partnership that is born out of love for God and each other, and brings out the best in both people.

The partnership is two people. So you leave mom and dad behind. You also leave past attachments. You don’t look up that wonderful girl or boy that you dated in college on Facebook just to see what they are up to these days. Marriage is a partnership between two people that is built on faithfulness and trust. All other relationships have to be laid aside.

The partnership is built through many acts of faithfulness. Trust is central to the marriage. A partnership means that you learn patience. You learn to accept one another. Accept their differences and you have to begin to see that that’s where God births patience in our hearts. That’s where God begins to birth sanctification because here you have somebody who is very different from you. And the things that attracted you that you thought were so cute you now sometimes find annoying.  Cleave to your wife. Endure and you’ll get huge payback. 

Discussion questions:

1. In what ways does a marriage seem like a partnership? 
2. What can we do this week to have more of partnership mindset?