Live Joyfully With Your Wife

Eccl 9:9

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity

KJV

 
 

Here we have yet another directive from the Bible that marriage is for life. Yet, in the US, over half of marriages end in divorce and a good portion of the other half are not happy. So, why is this? What causes all these problems? Why is living joyfully with your spouse so difficult? First, I believe that the joyful part is important. WE need to keep the joy there. But, how can we do that? One of the main keys is unselfishness. Before marriage it is usually easy to be unselfish. We are working very hard to win the other person's favor. We look out for them. We show them kindnesses whenever we can. After marriage is when the real challenge begins. Can we remain unselfish? Are we still willing to go out of our way for our spouse? Can we keep it up? With God's help, we can, but it takes discipline and self-sacrifice. Another key to a successful marriage is remembering the "all the days" part. If we have set in our minds that marriage is for life no matter what, it will help us work through the difficult times. We may never consider divorce as an option. If we have purposed in our hearts that we will work through everything together no matter what, it is a big step in the right direction. May God help you in your marriage to live joyfully together all your days.

 

P.S. I apologize for not posting recently. I was on vacation in Ireland. I'll try to keep up better from now on.