Fierce Marriage By Ryan And Selena FrederickSample

God’s Relentless Pursuit 

The incredible truth is that you don’t fight for your marriage as much as Christ uses your marriage to fight for you. You don’t pursue your spouse’s heart as much as Christ uses your spouse to pursue your heart. And you don’t prize your spouse’s affection with nearly the same ferocity with which Christ prizes yours. 

Every refining moment in your marriage is a reminder of God’s relentless, unwavering commitment to draw you near and conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. Those moments are reminders to find all you need in Jesus and anchor your identity in him—to trust the sufficiency of what he has done instead of what you can do. That’s the most exciting aspect of marriage! It’s not about you. It’s all about Jesus. 

You might be asking, why should you fight for a stronger marriage? What’s to be had on the far side of your marriage covenant—both here and now as well as when you’re dead and gone? 

We often ask ourselves those same questions. Especially when our marriage gets difficult. When we’re entangled in the weeds of daily life, it’s easy to lose sight of the grand storyline we occupy, the chief Protagonist, and our place in the plot. We must continually bend our sight upward to be reminded where we are, who we are, and of the Author penning the script. But by God’s grace we know his divine intent—and we know how the story ends! We know with certainty the answer to the eternal question of why: to sanctify God’s people and reconcile Christ’s Bride to him. 

We don’t, however, know what will happen between now and then. And we don’t always know how he plans to accomplish his divine ends. Your marriage is undoubtedly a primary tool in God’s work to draw you and your spouse close to him. But the reason for marriage doesn’t end there. God’s purposes for marriage extend outward to the rest of the world. 

We aren’t called to simply love each other fully and end our mission there. Let’s explore our callings and live to see Christ change our world through the work he does in our marriages! 

How do you see Christ fighting for your marriage? How does it make you feel to know that Christ is fighting for your marriage?