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"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."
(Ephesians 5:25, 33)
Last week, Ashley and I spent a couple of days in the mountains of North Carolina encouraging church planters and their wives. These godly, committed men and women are making an eternal difference in the lives of many. Their focus is church planting in military communities all over the world. At the invitation of my good friend, Dr. Endel Lee, I served on a panel with other pastors and answered questions related to sharing Jesus and making disciples. Ashley and I enjoyed getting to know these church planters, and even though we went to serve and be a blessing, we received the greater blessing!
One of the focal points of the conference was healthy marriages. These church planters and their spouses have great opportunities to serve in Jesus' name, and they also experience much spiritual warfare. The enemy of our souls targets the marriages of couples that genuinely are seeking to expand the Kingdom of God on earth.
Kathy Litton spoke at one of the evening sessions and did a great job encouraging the ministry couples to have Gospel-centered marriages. She shared with us from both her personal background and from her studies on the subject of healthy marriages. She told us about the tragic death of her first husband in an automobile accident. Ten years later, she married Ed Litton whose first wife had also passed away. With passion and wisdom, Kathy gave us Six Gospel Commitments for Marriages:
- Commit to a regular lifestyle of confession. Agree with God about our sins. Two of the most powerful statements couples can make are, "I am sorry," and "I was wrong." Confessing our sins to one another is very biblical, as James 5:16 teaches. Confession invites truth and opens the door for reconciliation. Being right with God and our spouse is sweet medicine for the soul.
- Make growth and change a daily agenda. Growing apart is easy. Kathy gave three types of growth: spiritual growth, where we hunger for God and holiness and share with each other what God is showing us; personal growth, where we read and stretch our minds; and experiential growth, where we embrace change and get out and do new stuff. For Ed and Kathy, that looks like going fishing together.
Well, we made it through two of the six. Watch for tomorrow's devotion as we cover the final four Gospel commitments for marriages.
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