4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.
Walking in this type of love may seem to be a tall order - I would say it's impossible...except for the strength of the Lord. He has placed His nature in our transformed hearts; we now have His love residing inside us, and He calls us to lay down our lives, in unselfish and humble surrender to Him and to the people around us, that we might display the love of Christ to those who need to experience that love.
In Ephesians 5, we read a passage that reinforces the definition of marriage and gives insight how we are to regard one another as husband and wife:
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 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.
Last night, my wife and I decided that I would go out to our storage room and retrieve a magical box of nostalgia. It's called "Box 18." Why? Well, when Beth and I were first married, we adopted a system - I think it was advocated by Christian author Emilie Barnes - and we numbered boxes based on their contents. It worked OK for a while, but as the years progressed, we abandoned that system, for whatever reason. But, we still have a few relics from yesteryear, including Box 18.
What is Box 18 - it's the memorabilia box, mainly full of wonderful items related to what took place 25 years ago today. Yes, it's our silver wedding anniversary! And, Beth and I certainly have plenty of blessings upon which we can reflect.
For one thing, I am most blessed that God, in His magnificent grace, chose for me a beautiful woman who is devoted to serving Him, who is and has been my best friend for years, who I just simply enjoy living life with! With - a very active preposition for us - because we do have that incredible capability to recognize that we are walking side-by-side, exploring and enjoying what the Lord has in store for us.
One thing I was intentionally looking for in Box 18 was a copy of our wedding ceremony, including the vows which we wrote for one another. Now, 25 years ago, there were computers, but we did not have the Internet. There was no hard drive on which the outline for our ceremony was saved, no Pinterest, no online wedding registry, and no Facebook. I located three wedding newsletters that we put together informing all the bridesmaids and groomsmen of important information they needed to know. I have a hard copy of the ceremony, and please allow me to share some of the content today.
One of the ministers declared near the beginning:
We then said our first set of vows. Here's an excerpt from what I said to Beth:
a sense of God's call upon our lives. We recognized, and continue to recognize, that God brought us together. I'm reminded, as Dennis Rainey has said, our mate, our spouse is God's gift to us. And I believe we have to recognize that gift is not to be taken for granted or cast aside.
We also declared that day a sense of unselfishness. We are called by God in a one-flesh relationship, and that means that we are to sensitive to the heart of our mate and place the needs of our spouse above our own.
That day we communicated to one another from the heart. And, transparent, vulnerable communication can contribute to a strong and lasting marriage. We have to make sure that we don't stop talking to each other. We have tried to set aside time, even as our family has grown, to look at each other face-to-face and to share with one another, taking time to speak - and to listen!
We celebrate 25 years, and this does not represent an arrival, but another milestone on a fabulous journey of God's love and faithfulness!
+++++
In Ephesians 5, we read a passage that reinforces the definition of marriage and gives insight how we are to regard one another as husband and wife:
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 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.
Last night, my wife and I decided that I would go out to our storage room and retrieve a magical box of nostalgia. It's called "Box 18." Why? Well, when Beth and I were first married, we adopted a system - I think it was advocated by Christian author Emilie Barnes - and we numbered boxes based on their contents. It worked OK for a while, but as the years progressed, we abandoned that system, for whatever reason. But, we still have a few relics from yesteryear, including Box 18.
What is Box 18 - it's the memorabilia box, mainly full of wonderful items related to what took place 25 years ago today. Yes, it's our silver wedding anniversary! And, Beth and I certainly have plenty of blessings upon which we can reflect.
For one thing, I am most blessed that God, in His magnificent grace, chose for me a beautiful woman who is devoted to serving Him, who is and has been my best friend for years, who I just simply enjoy living life with! With - a very active preposition for us - because we do have that incredible capability to recognize that we are walking side-by-side, exploring and enjoying what the Lord has in store for us.
One thing I was intentionally looking for in Box 18 was a copy of our wedding ceremony, including the vows which we wrote for one another. Now, 25 years ago, there were computers, but we did not have the Internet. There was no hard drive on which the outline for our ceremony was saved, no Pinterest, no online wedding registry, and no Facebook. I located three wedding newsletters that we put together informing all the bridesmaids and groomsmen of important information they needed to know. I have a hard copy of the ceremony, and please allow me to share some of the content today.
One of the ministers declared near the beginning:
The same power that joined you with Jesus when you made Him your Lord will now join you together. Beth and Bob, don't ever tamper with that union. The love of God doesn't say, "I love you, but do you really love me?" The love of God says very simply, "I love you." That's all it ever says. Don't ever tamper with that miracle. Don't ever let the sun go down on your wrath...The members of the congregation were also encouraged to add their agreement to our union.
We then said our first set of vows. Here's an excerpt from what I said to Beth:
I love you with a love that only Christ could place within my heart.She said to me:
Because you are my best friend, I will love you no matter what the circumstances.
I promise to give myself to you as Christ gave Himself to the church,
To present you to Him spotless and blameless I receive you into my life,
To set aside time to be the man of God for you that you deserve...
Words can never tell how deeply I love you.In our second set of vows, we shared some reasons for what we appreciated - and continue to appreciate - about one another. Here are some excerpts. I said:
I promise to love you even deeper each day.
I will keep strong my walk with the Lord so that I will be the spiritual encourager you need.
I will make your home a place to be proud of.
A place of joy and rest.
I will cherish you always as my best friend, protector, and companion.
In your smile I see the joy that you have from having the Lord's light in your heartShe said that:
And it is that joy that has always drawn and will forever draw me to you.
In all that you do, your desire is for excellence...
In your presence, as we share time together,
I can experience truly what love really means.
And as you show me compassion, I can feel important, confident, and most of all, free to be the man that God desires for me.
Your arms are wide enough to take in all of my worries and hurts;It certainly was challenging to choose some excerpts from our ceremony to reflect how important our wedding ceremony was to us and what we desired to communicate. Some of the threads included:
They are strong enough to protect me from the world
And to give me reassurance and confidence;
They are open enough to let me go and be what God has ordained...
You are my strength when I am weak,
My confidence when I am unsure,
My sounding board when I must be heard,
And my constant joy.
a sense of God's call upon our lives. We recognized, and continue to recognize, that God brought us together. I'm reminded, as Dennis Rainey has said, our mate, our spouse is God's gift to us. And I believe we have to recognize that gift is not to be taken for granted or cast aside.
We also declared that day a sense of unselfishness. We are called by God in a one-flesh relationship, and that means that we are to sensitive to the heart of our mate and place the needs of our spouse above our own.
That day we communicated to one another from the heart. And, transparent, vulnerable communication can contribute to a strong and lasting marriage. We have to make sure that we don't stop talking to each other. We have tried to set aside time, even as our family has grown, to look at each other face-to-face and to share with one another, taking time to speak - and to listen!
We celebrate 25 years, and this does not represent an arrival, but another milestone on a fabulous journey of God's love and faithfulness!
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