UNDERSTANDING THE MARRIAGE COVENANT - COMPATIBILITY IN MARRIAGE

Last time we tried to establish the fact that compatibility in marriage is not so much what we "have in common" as compared to what we "agree in common". It is a function of what we are willing to tolerate and accommodate.

One misconception is the desire to have your partner change and conform to the image you have created for him of her in your consciousness. Every one want his partner to be the perfect husband or wife but reality shows that we can only find that in fiction and story books. The Bible clearly shows in the writing of Paul the divine pattern of a compatible marriage.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church; and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Ephesians 5: 22-26 (KJV)

In this passage of scripture Paul points out certain profound truth about marriage using the relationship between the Church and Christ as a analogy. So lets pause for a moment to reflect on this relationship.

1. Christ loves the church not because the church deserved to be loved or earned his love
2. Christ loves the church in spite of the fact that many times the church is unlovable
3. Christ loves an imperfect and impure church
4. Christ gave himself for the church - this connotes a situation of forgetting who he was, his majesty and power to relate to the church.

The Church in ancient times and now in no way measures up to the standard of Christ. There was no compatibility between us mortals and the incarnate of God who decided to come in human form. I am sure angels still marvel at this display of unconditional love.

Now here is the crust of the matter. Christ constantly washes the church by HIS WORDS. What you say to your spouse in spite of their shortcomings is vital in maintaining a lasting relationship. In other words, Christ seems to tell us all the time that if we trust him we can make it in life and in the hereafter. The words of Christ are words of hope and encouragement and not words of condemnation and judgment.

This is the principle of divine compatibility.

God bless you.

Femi Imevbore
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