Bible Verses: Marriage

We are back and ready to continue our marriage study the focus being on a woman's role in marriage. The remainder of the study will be a combination of Bible Verses and how they apply to marriage. This part of the study will conclude the series by the end of June when we will move on to our next topic. I hope and pray that this study is more than just another blog post that you can check off but rather a heart to heart whether married or single, about our love for those around us and whether or not those closest to us are being harmed by our actions. Please feel free at any time in this series to share your own opinions, advice, testimony etc. May God move in our midst. . .

All of the quotes come from : Every Woman's Marriage a book by Shannon and Greg Ethridge
The commentary for this series is written by: Nicole Stockton

This week we will talk about Comparison. A nasty word that wreaks havoc on any woman whether married or single. How does this effect our marriages. . . well stay tuned we are about to find out!

-"Why can't you be more like. . . " Wow this one can occur in our marriages in our friendships with our children or even just with our other fellow believers. Do we need a wake up call this can only result in one thing. . . destruction. We are deconstructing another person's self worth to make them more of what we want rather than who God intends for them to be. Nothing good comes of any comparison and this one is no different what we end up with is a mound of despair and a heart on attack mode and eventually a cold lonely house. . . 

-"I wish I were as pretty as . . . " Ok ladies fess up whether married or single we all struggle here at least every woman I have ever encountered has. Why?? Perhaps we are still shamefully so trying to gauge our self worth by what we look like in the mirror. But isn't appearance important? you ask. . . well let us ask the Bible which clearly states that the Lord looks at the heart not to mention the several verses referencing not adorning ourselves outwardly. . . oops. . I did that again. . . (Britney Spears) anyhow. . This can wreak havoc on a marriage obviously. IT IS NOT our husbands jobs to make us feel complete, that my dear is only God's job. . . 

- "Keeping up with the Joneses". . . Perhaps we are fanatics but our fan fare is far from healthy. We are fanatics about . . . stuff. We live for it, think about it, perhaps like morphine we inject ourselves with it until we feel nothing anymore. Then we try to fill that emptiness with... well more stuff. Eventually we have houses that are full but hearts that are empty and as our stuff wastes away and rots so does our marriage, our family, our relationship with God. I hope this is not our story, I pray none of us end up here but tragically so many do. Many believers who at one time were fanatics for Christ become lured in by the shiny, glittery, falsity that is our culture. We can only serve one master and if we are not our marriage is in jeopardy. Will the battle against stuff ever end?? Not in my experience we must battle it every day... because we are not defined by our culture or our economic status but by our heart. 

Time to awaken these hearts and have them beat only for Christ and our husbands, time to stop comparing and start, embracing. Carpe Diem . . .