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What do I love about: The meaning of marriage?
Marriage happens to be one of the most controversial topics in religion and even society at-large. This book addresses key issues in marriage leveraging passages in the bible. The writer and his wife who have been married for 37 years share with their audience challenges and resolutions that have kept them lovingly married. The writer focuses on sex and gender roles within marriage and how singles and married couples can navigate its complexities.
Having read several psychology books on sex, I can agree with Timothy that his perspective on sex especially sex as a gift to your partner is crucial in marriages. With the evolution of various social groups, the individual roles members of the union play is responsible for much debate especially as it pertains to the man’s headship and female’s submission. A provoking thought for me was how the writer expressed the great responsibility that comes with leadership and how it is often overlooked and greatly soughted.
The biggest take way from this book is that the institution of marriage should be likened to the relationship between Christ and the church. A relationship that is selfless, full of unconditional love and a vehicle to grow in Christian faith. Please continue to read below to view more insights
What do I not love about: The meaning of marriage?
Zilch
Who should read: The meaning of marriage?
Anyone curious about the institution of marriage and want some practical guide especially from a biblical perspective should read this.
Who should not read: The meaning of marriage?
Anyone who does not believe in the institution of marriage is better off staying away from this read.
Notes from The meaning of marriage?
- God, the best maker of all marriages, combine your hearts in one- William Shakespeare
- The demands of marriage are overwhelming. There is so much to do that we don’t know where to start. Start here, Paul says. Do for your spouse what God did for you in Jesus, and the rest will follow
- The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God.
- In social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without having noticed. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it……Nothing you have not really given away will be really yours.
- If I look to marriage to fill the God-sized spiritual vacuum in my heart, I will not be in position to serve my spouse. Only God can fill a God-sized hole. Until God has the proper place in my life, I will always be complaining that my spouse is not loving enough not respecting enough, not supporting me enough. We love–because he first loved us(1 John 4.19)
- Actions of love can lead consistently to feelings of love.
- The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. That is why those pathetic people who simply “want friends” can never make any. Friendship must be about something even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice.
- We never know whom we marry; we just think we do. Or even if we first marry the right person, just give it a while and he or she will change. For marriage, being means we are not the same person after we have entered it. The problem is…learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.
- And there’s the great problem of marriage. The one person in the whole world who hold your heart in her hand, whose approval and affirmation you most long for and need, is the one who is hurt more deeply by your sins than anyone else on the planet. When we are first sinned against by our spouses in a serious way, we use the power of TRUTH. We tell our spouses what fools, what messes, what selfish pigs they are. The first few times we do it, however, we may learn to our surprise how shattering our criticism can be. Sometimes we let fly some real harsh, insulting remarks, and the next thing we know there’s nothing left of our spouses but a pair of sneakers with smoke coming out of them. The basic roles- of leader and helper- are binding, but every couple must work out how that will be expressed within their marriage.
- The only person over whom you have control is yourself
- Ralph Waldo Emerson argued that the best friendships are between people who are profoundly like and unlike each other but who nevertheless have a common vision and travel together towards it.
Myths about sex and relationship
- The introduction of sex is necessary to sustain a fledgling or struggling relationship
- Porn won’t affect your relationship
- Sex need not mean anything
- Moving in together is definitely a step toward marriage