Is Your Marriage God Centered or Spouse Centered?

Wedding Rings Dollar Photo Character flawsWhat motivates you in how you react to, and treat your spouse? Is your marriage God centered? Or do you have a marriage that is centered on the 50/50 principle where you treat your spouse according to the way your spouse treats you? It’s the principle of:

“You-scratch-my-back and I’ll-scratch-yours” — “But if you don’t, I won’t scratch yours either.”

By the world’s standards that sounds pretty reasonable. But think about it, since when did God call His children to live by what is reasonable by the “world’s standards?”

The Bible says in Romans 12:2:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 

The God Centered Marriage

What is God’s “good, pleasing, and perfect” will, when is comes to marriage? How do we “transform” our thinking and our actions to God’s way of conducting ourselves in marriage rather than to the “pattern of this world?”

It’s a matter of flipping our vision around so we no longer look at our spouse through the “world’s” eyes, but rather through our Heavenly Father’s eyes— that’s what is truly non-conforming and transforming about it. It’s not something that comes naturally to us, but Super-naturally, through God’s transforming, resurrecting power.

Beyond Comfort Zone

It’s also a matter of seeing our marriages beyond our own comfort zones, and viewing them as “platforms for evangelism” as author Gary Thomas talks about. In that way, our marriages “can draw people into a truth that points beyond this world into the next.”

Have you ever viewed your marriage in this God-centered way?

To help with this, we have provided a web site links below, which will lead to an article written by Gary Thomas (who is one of our favorite authors). We believe it will give all of us a unique God-centered way to view how we look at our spouses and our marriages.

THE GOD-CENTERED SPOUSE

Cindy Wright of Marriage Missions International compiled this blog.

If you have additional tips you can share to help others, please “Join the Discussion” by adding your comments below.

Print Post

Filed under: Spiritual Matters

Join the Discussion

Please observe the following guidelines:

  • Try to be as positive as possible when you make a comment.
  • If there is name-calling, or profane language, it will be deleted.
  • The same goes with hurtful comments targeted at belittling others; we won't post them.
  • Recommendations for people to divorce will be edited out–that's a decision between them and God, not us.
  • If you have a criticism, please make it constructive.
  • Be mindful that this is an international ministry where cultural differences need to be considered.
  • Please honor the fact this is a Christ-centered web site.

We review all comments before posting them to reduce spam and offensive content.