Marriage That WorksSample

The Rhythm of Love

Picture a dance floor, with open space and freedom to move around. There’s room for creativity and individual expression here. Each dance partner has a part to play. Neither comes into the dance to take control. Both come with an awareness of the other’s importance. The purpose is to create beautiful movement together. 

That’s a great picture of marriage according to God’s design. 

Marriage partners don’t have identical roles; their steps and movements are different. But the backdrop is an important biblical principle for all Christian relationships: mutual submission.

We are called to: 

• Express unconditional love.
• Put others first.
• Look out for the interests of others in everything we do.

When this kind of love is the foundation of a marriage, God’s instructions become simple. And much less controversial. A marriage in which the man rules and the woman blindly submits to him is not God’s plan! It’s not what Ephesians is describing here. 

God calls us into a dance of mutual submission in which the husband takes the first steps and the wife cooperates, with both fully submitted to God and sacrificially supporting each other.

Every day is an opportunity to step onto the dance floor. Mutually agree to practice your steps, coordinate your movements, and find your rhythm. You’ll have to work at the choreography, but don’t lose sight of the whole dance. 

Your hard work will create a beautiful piece of art.