Keys To A Successful Marriage Sample

Foundational Matters for Marriage 

Most of the struggles we have in marriages are not due to a lack of information. They are due to a lack of obedience to what we already know. I’ve had the privilege to shepherd churches for thirty-four years, and I’ve done a lot of marriage counseling. I can tell you that most of the time the people sitting in front of me are not suffering from a lack of information. They have grasped the information. They could even give you the right answers of how their attitudes ought to be. They just don’t have within them the desire to do what Scripture says, or they don’t know how to live it out. 

Individual Perspective

What needs to be in place in your own life if your marriage is to glorify God? What needs to be in place as an individual if you’re to experience the joy, unity, sense of purpose, and worship that God means for marriage to be? Marriage is not a 50/50 proposition. This is often how we think, whether we’ll admit it or not. “Well, the reason that I responded that way, is because you responded this way. If you hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have said this. If this hadn’t been your attitude, this wouldn’t have been my attitude.” As if somehow we’re excused to disobey the Lord because the person we are married to has not treated us properly. I want to remind you that glorifying God in marriage is a 100/0 proposition. That is, what I do, I do unto the Lord. And the life that glorifies God can be explained in the two great commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. That is something that I am responsible for, regardless of how I’m treated, and that includes marriage. 

We think about the love of God, a love that preceded our love for Him. He loved us before we ever loved Him, when we were unlovely, and even now the story of love is not our love for God, but God’s love for us. And it is this kind of love that we’re to demonstrate in all of our human relationships, including the relationship of marriage. So when you think about your marriage, instead of thinking about what you wish your spouse was, think about what the Lord’s work in your life should look like. This means that the first foundational issue for you as an individual is salvation.