Distractions in Your Marriage - Part 1Sample

Exits

Devotional Content:

As you drive along this highway called marriage, you inevitably begin to notice that there are road signs. Written on them are the names of the many distractions in your marriage: work, kids, fights, extended family, church, alcohol, drugs, adultery. As you take an exit, you see there is a car waiting there for your passenger (your spouse). Your spouse gets out of your car and gets in the waiting car. Now you begin driving in a different direction than the marriage highway. And after awhile, you realize you cannot remember how to get back to it, and the relationship you had when your passenger was riding with you is changing dramatically for the worst.

Most people would consider exit signs in marriage to be things that are inherently bad—things like alcohol abuse, drugs, and adultery. They are all marriage killers. My experience in working with couples where there is alcohol abuse and drug abuse is that the alcohol or drug becomes the most important thing in the person’s life, and everything else takes a backseat to it. The marriage deteriorates and eventually dies. Adultery wreaks havoc with our marriages. Less than five percent of the couples who experience adultery make it in their marriages. It is an exit sign that destroys a marriage.

But even “good” things can serve as exits for any marriage. For example, kids are great and a real blessing, but if you let them come between you, and you constantly fight over how to handle them, you can grow far apart in your marriage. The same is true for work or church or extended family. If anything comes between the two of you in marriage, it can be a marriage killer. Consider this: If a distraction is an exit from your marriage, it is bad. Be aware of distractions that serve as exits in your marriage, and avoid them at all cost!

Today’s Challenge: Think about the distractions in your life that could become exits. What is something you can do today to prevent that from happening?

Going Deeper:

1. Dr. Kim talked about how not all “exits” are bad. Even good things can become distractions in your marriages. Take time to list out some of the distractions in your marriage.

2. Dr. Kim shared that if a distraction is an exit from your marriage it is bad. Do you have any distractions in your life that are currently driving you away from your spouse?

3. What one thing do you need to do this week to move away from the distractions that are taking you away from your marriage?

4. Make time this week to sit down with your spouse and talk about the distractions in your marriage. Work together on a plan to help you two stay on the marriage highway.

5. Will you begin praying today for God to protect your marriage from distractions?