Complement: A 5-Day Devo for MenSample

DAY 1 - God’s Design for Marriage: To Be a Complement 

One of the most intriguing things about painting is that there’s an endless supply of color options. Sure, there are primary colors that everything is built on—red, yellow, blue, black and white. But from those simple five colors, you can create any color imaginable. There’s no limit. No end in sight for what beautiful shades and tones you can create. And what’s the magic that makes that possible? How can a few simple and primary colors unfold into literally billions of color palettes? The magic is in finding colors that complement each other.

Take a little red and little yellow and what do you get? The most gorgeous orange. Drag a little blue paint into a mound of yellow—you’ll find a stunning green that can be used to paint leaves that blue or yellow alone could never conjure.

See, marriage is meant to be as thrilling and creative as painting with complementary colors. Sure, you are your own color, your own being. You are uniquely you, created perfectly by God and for God. And your spouse, or future spouse, is his or her own color, his or her own being, created by God and for God. But when God forges two lives together through the sanctity of marriage, those two colors complement each other in such a powerful and purposeful way that something crazy happens. A new color emerges.

Marriage is not simple arithmetic. It’s not one plus one, equals two. It’s not Aaron plus Jamie equals Aaron and Jamie. No, it’s something better than that! Marriage is one plus one equals one. A new one! A new identity is created—a color that didn’t exist before. 

Aaron plus Jamie equals something much more powerful and vibrant that neither of us could be on our own. Just like painting, one color plus one color equals one brand new, bold, stunning color. This is what a healthy marriage looks like. And just like a brilliant painting on display at an art museum, this kind of complementary marriage has the unique ability to display to the entire world just how good, and kind, and creative God is.

This is what happens when spouses choose to complement each other. Not change each other, not compete with each other, and definitely not fall into indifference with each other. Instead, brilliantly forming something much more beautiful than either person could be on their own. When that shows up on the canvas of your married life, people will be awestruck to see what’s produced—something brand new, something much better, something with purpose and insane beauty.

Discuss with your spouse:

• What’s the difference between complementing and completing your spouse? 
• How do you view your marriage?