5 Resolutions That Could Actually Change Your Life ... #1: Nurture Your Marriage
Not one New Year’s resolution list that I've seen has a single declaration about marriage.
Yet stable healthy marriages are the bedrock of secure societies worldwide. More important than exercise, staying hydrated, and cutting out sugar is cultivating a heart devoted to strengthening your marriage.
In all relationships Jesus is our model. Here is a simple yet impossible formula for your marriage. Simply stated resolutions:
Don’t be selfish
Don’t look out only for your own interests (He didn’t say never look out for your own interests…don’t deny how He made you…Jesus set aside His deity not His humanity)
Do have the mind of Christ…the attitude of serving your spouse in love as Christ served us and loved us.
Just reading this list reminds me I’m a failure. You too? I have learned it is impossible for me to perform any of the above list in my own ability and power. It is good. I finally am resigned to my inabilities.
Here is what makes the impossible possible:
Admitting I can’t change myself much less my spouse. Selfishness is my natural inclination. Me first is always easier than you first.
Understanding how and then balancing the command to “look out for my own interests and the interests of others” is impossible for me but entirely possible for Christ in me.
Having the mind of Christ is the only hope for any marriage at any season or life stage.
To help you get started, close the prayer above from Philippians with these words:
“My Jesus, thank you that nothing is impossible for you! It is Your Spirit in me that transforms my attitude, my heart, my motives and my desires into conformity with Your example of humility in my marriage and all relationships.”
Remember if you choose to make your marriage your number one resolution for this year that being incapable is a good place to be…the impossible standard of holiness God calls us to forces us to be utterly dependent on Him.
We pray you will join us in making this resolution number one on your list. And we pray you will ask the Spirit of God to make you more like Jesus in your marriage.
You’ll be glad you did.