Secrets of a Good Marriage

January 2004

with Dr. Libby Skidmore

• Love
• Dedication (commitment)
• Forbearance (long suffering with forgiveness)
• Patience
• Humility

Are you in an unbalanced relationship, where it seems you do all the giving and your spouse does all the taking? Some professionals recommend doing less yourself, until you "even up the score;" yet, this can inadvertently lead to the death of a relationship. If no one is nurturing the marriage, it has no hope of surviving. You wouldn't think of withholding water or light from a plant and still expect it to live, would you?

Try demonstrating your love for God through your loving service to your husband. Let that service be unto the Lord.

• With humility of mind, let each of you put the other's needs ahead of your own (Phil. 2:3).
  
  
• Submit yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ. There is inter-submissiveness and interdependence in a good marriage (Eph. 5:21).
  
  
• Wives, see to it that you respect your husbands (Eph. 5:22). Our husbands respond to encouragement. They need to feel appreciated, needed, and accepted, just the way they are.

It was Jesus who taught us to give. Give freely. Give, expecting nothing in return, though, ironically, it is in giving that we receive.

It is a Kingdom truth that no act of kindness goes unnoticed. Be encouraged - every act of kindness will have its reward, either in this life or in the life to come.

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