Marriage, Family Life, and Church Life

There is a reason why the Scriptures use marriage and family life as an analogy for the church.  Let me explain.

When a couple first gets married it’s like heaven on earth.  There is the honeymoon.  Then they set up house and begin their life together.  It's a lot of fun and the wonder of discovery is thrilling.  But after a a few years they begin to settle down into a daily grind of going to work and paying the bills.  All of a sudden the honeymoon has turned into responsibility.  Wonder turns into a daily routine.  It's right here that you face challenges, irritability, and you get on each other nerves. 

What do you do in times like this?  Do you call it quits and look for a new spouse and start all over, just so you can live in the honeymoon stage again?  How silly.  What you do is WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE TOUGH ISSUES, “for better, for worse.”  This is the place where you see your commitments through! 

Everyone knows that the best marriages, and yes, long-term marriages, are those in which the couple has toughed it out, and smoothed out the rough spots along the way.  You have cried together, laughed together, hurt each other, and forgiven each other… and your marriage lasts. Long-term relationships and a stable family is one of the ways that God meets some of our deepest needs.

That’s what church life is like… for those who stick it out.  You benefit from long-term relationships, friends who stay with you through thick-and-thin, spiritual family members who support you in the difficult seaons of life, and the long-term care of a shepherd who knows you and your family by name.  This is another way that God meets some of our deepest needs.