God Has A Purpose For Your Marriage-Devotional Series Ep 1

Aaron Smith (00:00)
So the question is, does your marriage reflect the gospel, the amazing love and grace of God?

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God podcast where your hosts Erin and Jennifer Smith. Hi everyone. If you’re tuning in for the first time, welcome. We are actually launching today, this episode is the first week in a 30 week devotional series based on our 30 day devotionals, husband and wife after God. Now just to clarify, we did launch October 1st with the introduction. So if you missed out on that and you want to kind of know what to expect in this series and we also shared a little bit of the background of

when we wrote these books and published them back in 2013, you can go back and listen to that. So we’re beginning today. This episode is titled God’s Purpose for Your Marriage. First topic. First topic. So we’re going to be discussing today what that is. What’s God’s purpose for us and our marriage? But before we get into that, I want to invite you, as usual, again, if this is your first time, subscribe now, hit that like button, leave us a comment on what you loved about this episode, what God’s teaching you in through this devotional.

And also, make sure you grab a copy of these devotionals if you haven’t done so already to go through with us. You can go to shop.marriageaftergod.com and just search for husband after God or wife after God. You’ll find the bundle there. ⁓ join us in, join in with us this 30-week devotional series starting right now. This is week one. Here we go. God’s purpose. Yeah, we’re going to talk about God’s purpose for your marriage today. And you know, purpose is such an innate thing that we as humans recognize, isn’t it?

Like our souls long to know that we have purpose and we want to know what it is. So to start, we’re going to share that. Before we start, I just want to make note. I feel like purpose has been one of the biggest things that the current culture has been missing. There’s almost like a loss of it as like, what is my purpose? Is it this? Is it that? Is it this cause, that cause? But we know where to find our purpose and that’s why we want to talk about it today. So ⁓ what’s really interesting to think about.

when it comes to purpose. As humans, this is something that’s unique to humans. Every other creature on the planet, other animals, living creatures, do not consider their purpose. A whale doesn’t think to itself, I’m a whale, what’s my purpose as a whale? What am I to do? They don’t ponder, they just kind of do. They just exist, they just do what they were created to do. Sometimes creatures don’t even do what they’re created to do, they kind of are out of order, but…

Other creatures in God’s creation do not have deep inside them a longing for purpose, for a meaning, for ⁓ a drive and a direction of what am I here for? But we do. And going back to how you said, you know, today’s culture, it’s kind of felt like we’ve stopped understanding our purpose a little bit or figuring out how to get there.

And I think that when we think about, you know, early adults, people going into college, that 18 to 20 mark, ⁓ we probably, they’re probably the first ones on our mind to consider this question because they truly are on the adventure of seeking out, you know, what does the rest of my life look like? But the truth is that ⁓ everyone from young kids to even older adults who have had tons of experience in their life might end up later on in life asking this

asking themselves this question of what is my purpose? And so we’d love to just start here by encouraging you guys and just so that you know what to expect upfront. This is not us giving you a list of things you can do to choose from. We’re not going to tell you that. Here’s your specific purpose. Yeah. It’s not that this person, this couple over here is supposed to be doing that or that couple over there is supposed to be doing things like us. More so we just want to

Have us focus our hearts and our minds on what God has intended for the purpose of marriage. And so why don’t we dive into this? What’s beautiful about us as humans is just like we were just talking about with other creatures, we’ve been created uniquely from all of creation. We have been given something endowed with something very special. And I believe our purpose, I shouldn’t say I believe it.

our purpose is derived from this very truth that we’re getting into is that each and every one of us, you, your spouse, your neighbor, every human that exists on this planet has been created in the image of God. And we need to recognize this. We need to remember this because this is the base foundation for everything moving forward is like, wait a minute, there’s something unique in me that I’m not just another creature. I’m not just an

animal as the world is going lie to us. we’re not random. It was not a random event that we exist today. There was purpose from the beginning. random at all. And I’ll even suggest that your marriage is not random. That no matter where you’re at, if it’s hard or good or strong or weak, whatever situation you’re in, your marriage has a purpose. Why don’t you Genesis 1-27 just to be reminded of exactly how the Bible

I will. And just as a side note for because this is the beginning of our series, the scripture that we’re going to be sharing with you guys throughout each episode comes straight from the husband and wife after God devotionals. And so at the beginning of each topic, each day, you’ll see just a list of scripture that you can dig more into. And we’ll be sharing some of those. Genesis 1 27 is one of these scriptures. It says, so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him.

male and female he created them.” What I love about this is it talks about man in general and this word man in the Old Testament, it represents men and women. And you can see this because then it goes on and says, male and female he created them. So male and female, husband and wife, man and woman, both unique in nature, unique in the way God created us, but equally made in the image of God, each one of us. It’s not that man is more in the image of God or woman’s less in the image of God or

woman’s more in the image of God and man’s less. No, no. We as humans, man and woman, are in the image of God. That’s what God created, how He created us. And it even says that you see the Trinity happening. Let us make man in our image, which is amazing and powerful. And again, the more we can recognize the reason we started the devotionals this way and the reason we’re starting this 30-week devotion this way is

Everything stems from this truth, this understanding of recognizing who made us, who the creator is, and the purpose that we’re deriving from that comes from that foundation of, I was made in God’s image. Yeah, that’s really good. ⁓ Far advanced than anything else in all of creation are humans. I know we touched on that already, but just to remind you guys that ⁓ we’re not an accident and we don’t just exist.

Like Aaron said, we were created in the image of God and so we reflect His character. And so if He’s got purpose, we have purpose. Genesis 1.26 kind of continues on this ⁓ support of being built in God’s image. It says, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish and the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So right here in the very beginning.

We see not only men and women being created, but then being given a job to do. That’s purpose. That’s part of our purpose. Yeah. I would even say this is more than a job because it doesn’t say, you know, go feed the birds. It doesn’t say go, you know, tend to the livestock. It says be over or dominion over, which is a much higher calling. He’s also making that distinction that we are set apart. We are different than the other things roaming around.

He didn’t give this mandate to any of the other creatures that he made or to the stars in the heavens or anything like that. Instead, when he made man and woman in his image, he did it for a reason. He said, let’s make man and woman in our image and they’re going to be over the earth that we created for him, for her. They have not just a job but a purpose in their creation. ⁓

And this is just the surface level part of that creation. It’s like, let’s have a co-manager of this world we just created and let’s make it man and woman. So just to further this idea that we were created in God’s image and just how unique the human body is in husband after God, I just wanted to pull this quote. says, you are living proof that God is real because think about it. Think about the human body. We’re actually talking with our kids about this and how every

small cell in our body, has so many working parts in order for that one cell to function. And then let alone have all these different parts functioning in different ways. And they all have to be functioning at the same time in order for a human body to work. And so you look at humans and you just know there had to have been intelligent design behind this. There had to have been someone who is infinite in power.

and creativity to come up with this. And I just want to make that note because I think it’s really cool. And the fact that each one of us in every part of our, like you said, the cell contains our DNA that God designed and this DNA has the plans and the design for each one of us individually in every single cell of our body. And then think about our minds, okay? We can comprehend, we can discern, we can contemplate, we can question, we can reason.

we can invent. These are things that God himself can do, which is pretty awesome to think about. Again, going back to us being created in his image and ⁓ how we reflect his image. So that word, that idea of reflecting his image is we’re slowly honing in on this purpose that God has us for and reflecting his image in this world is what we’re getting at. And we’re going to be digging more into this.

and how our marriages do that and how we individually do that. But it’s important to value the truth that God made your spouse in his image. This is something, this is huge. Like, of course we’re like, yeah, God made us in his image. But how often in our marriage do we forget that? Like when I talk to you disrespectfully, I’m talking to someone that God made in his image, God’s own creation, God’s own daughter.

And I mistreat you. so recognizing this and you can go beyond your marriage, we’re supposed to. You look at any person. Yeah. Ever. Being able to honor them, respect them and love them because God created them and that there’s value in life. They have intrinsic value, not because of who they are, what they do, how much money they make, where they live, anything. None of that other than they are made in the image of God. That’s where our value stems from. ⁓

⁓ purpose stems from as well. Yeah, and next week we’re going to touch on marriage by design, which is really cool and just how God designed and established marriage. I just want to note that because you said that your spouse is made in God’s image, ⁓ your spouse’s purpose adds to the fullness of your purpose in marriage. So together, you guys complete that vision and reason why God created marriage. And so I just I think that that

is something worthy of us to consider and think about. 10, 6-9 says this, And so we get this picture of God creating man, God creating woman, and then bringing them together in

covenant of marriage to create this full picture that we see for God’s purpose. And something to realize here is this coming together and becoming one, no longer two flesh, is to realize that though I have my own individual relationship with God and though my wife has her own individual relationship with God, we can pursue God separately and individually. And we may even have slightly varying purposes and like ⁓

giftings and talents as individuals. As we talk about in the Marriage After God book, and we always talk about when you come together and become one flesh, the individual purposes are no longer the main focus. Doesn’t mean that they go away. Maybe they do. But we are one flesh and we begin to go in the same direction together. And we look at what the things we’re doing, say, how do these align together and where do they not align and how can we make them align? We begin to orient our hearts and our minds in our direction.

together rather than separately. And I think that’s actually a hard thing to do over time, is it takes time to be like, hey, how are we becoming more one flesh in all these different aspects of our lives, rather than how do we maintain our individuality? And how do we, I want to keep my stuff over here, you keep yourself over there. It’s something, it’s really good for us to recognize that the Bible makes it very clear we are no longer two but one. And so all of the individualness,

slowly melds together, sometimes quickly, into a unique oneness that we chase God’s purpose together with. So good. So I want to move a little bit further into this idea of a purpose for marriage now that we’ve established the individual value, but also the marriage with counterparts, you know, and being unified in one flesh. And I think Ephesians 5,

25 through 33 is in both sets of devotionals as a reference verse, so let’s just read it all. Yeah, and if you are new to being a Christian, maybe you’ve never heard of this verse before, but this is probably the most famous scripture on husbands and wives and roles and how do we look at each other and how do we behave. But we want to highlight what Paul highlights in it. And it’s not so much like here’s the rules on how to behave as a husband.

a wife, and more so when you walk these things out, this is what it’s representing and why we want to walk these things out. So I’m going to read this. starts in verse 25, Ephesians 25-33. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle.

or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hate his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound. And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that

she respects her husband. So we’re talking about the purpose of marriage and in our devotionals we share that the purpose of marriage is to reflect God’s love story. What does this mean and what does it have to do with this verse that you just shared in 32? This mystery is profound that I am saying it refers to Christ and the church. So the mystery part if you notice, so like just above this it talks about the wife and how she is to love her husband and then it goes into husband’s loving

their wives, but the rest of it is explaining how Christ loves the Church. And often I feel like we look at this and we say, well, so I need to do this, which is true. It says love your wives as Christ loves the Church, and then it explains how he does it. so husbands are to try and love like that. But the point he’s making is look at the image your marriage bears in this world. Look at the purpose of your marriage, and it is to represent Christ

and the church. So if you go back down, scroll to that, says, this mystery is profound. He’s pointing out, he’s like, this is a mystery. The mystery of marriage and the mystery of Christ and the church are the same mystery. And when a marriage operates this way, know, wives submitting to their husbands out of reference for Christ, husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church, when those two things take place, when the husband and the wife love like that, walk like that, behave like this,

realize that their purpose is to reflect this mystery, this profound mystery, which is Christ and the Church. And so when we talk about the purpose of your marriage, this is it. The reason Jennifer said in the beginning, we’re not going to like say, you should be an author or you should go be a pastor or you should, like, we don’t know what the specific dynamic elements of your specific purposes, but at the core foundation of why marriage exists,

why God brought you and your spouse together and what you are to represent in this world is this. This is the main purpose. Whatever you do, this is it. That your marriage is meant to reflect the image of Christ and his love for his church or the bride. Which I would like to add and say ⁓ it’s a love story and that probably the biggest thing that I can

look at the picture of Christ in the church and say is true love, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Like those things are evident and highlighted and illuminated through Jesus’s relationship with his church. And so if we can reflect that in our own marriage, if we have that greater understanding and operate in that way, guess what’s going to happen when other people view your marriage from the outside or when your children look up to your marriage?

they are going to see a picture of what Jesus did. That’s the whole purpose. Their eyes are going to be drawn to him. So we are our encouragement in this in today’s devotional is to recognize that that we can ask ourselves, is my marriage currently pointing people to the image of Christ in his church, the bride and the Savior? Are we representing that ministry of reconciliation, that covenant of marriages?

an awesome symbol of this, the relationship that Christ desires to have with the Church, the humans that he created in his image. He desires to have that covenant relationship and that’s where our marriages come in. It’s one of the ministries of our marriage and one of the main purposes of our marriage is to reflect that truth. So I’m going to read 2 Corinthians 520.

It says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. So we wanted to share this because this is the how, this is how you and your spouse can be a light in this world and reflect the gospel in your marriage by how you treat each other. And yes, this verse goes for believers. And so if you’re not married, you know that you could be an ambassador for Christ as well. But we’re applying this to this message of what is,

God’s purpose for your marriage. so, you know, just as Jesus demonstrated selfless, sacrificial love, you can love each other in marriage the same way. And in doing so, you are a light to this world. You are an ambassador for Christ. And I love that last part, be reconciled to God, because when you individually are reconciled to God, meaning you’re walking in His ways, you’re obedient to Him, you live humbly, that’s going to pour over into your relationship with your spouse. So first and foremost is your own recognition of what Jesus has done for you.

and allowing that to motivate how you treat your spouse. And that motivation leading into this is a hard thing for us to think about. In our own relationship with Christ, when we mess up, when we do things intentionally to hurt Christ, because we do, when we sin, when we choose sin over obedience, when we break that ⁓ choice to walk with Him and abide with Him, do we want Him to abandon us? Do we want Him to crush us?

leave us to throw us out? No, we want grace. We want forgiveness. We want him to be there when we come back and we’re like, I don’t know why I did that. I don’t know why I left. I don’t know why I disobeyed you. I don’t know why I hurt you. This is the hard part of showing that image to the world is that we, like you said, we recognize what we received, the forgiveness from Christ on the cross. We say, how would I want God to

respond to me in my failures. And then we’re to reflect that to our spouse, which is so difficult because we think for some reason when we’re hurt or angry that we have some right to hold on to it. But the moment we realize like, man, like if God did that, we’d be totally lost and done with, but Christ forgives us. And so it reorientates our whole way we see our spouse and our relationship when we think in these terms.

I have another quote here from Husband After God. So if you’re following along, you can search for this, but it says, is an opportunity to bring glory to God as you share with the world his testimony by loving your wife the way Christ loves his church. God’s purpose for your marriage is to allow you and your wife to be a living representation of Christ’s love. So the question is, does your marriage reflect the gospel, the amazing love and grace of God? It’s a good question for us to think about. Are we loving each other with sacrificial love?

fighting for reconciliation, not fighting against it. Like I want to reconcile. I may be frustrated, you may be frustrated, we may be hurt, but we are going to reconcile because God reconciled us to himself through his son Jesus. We see that as our guiding ⁓ light in our marriages. What Christ did, we want to do. How he loved, we want to love. How he forgave, we want to forgive. Just a small personal story from me. I felt like this was a good

place to share it with you guys. feel like, Erin, when you and I first ⁓ made plans to get married, we were driven by purpose because we loved God. Like individually, our hearts were set on serving Him and loving Him. And throughout our relationship maturing, we got married, but also knew we wanted to serve God together. And you were already in missions. so,

We decided just four months after getting married that we would go to Africa. We were in Zambia and ⁓ we would share the gospel, which we got the opportunity to do. So while we were there, I would say that we were hyper-focused on sharing the gospel in our different roles. Because in the missions organization that we were a part of, ⁓ I was in a missions training program with other students.

and you were more on the inside with the media team and doing video, but we both got the opportunity to be a light there and to share the gospel. But little did we know just how powerful our marriage would be in sharing the gospel. And looking back, I just don’t remember thinking, like I didn’t have this understanding of the purpose of our marriage in this light as much as I do today.

And it’s been super encouraging the way it’s encouraged our marriage and encouraged us to grow in Christ together. It felt like our marriage was this thing over here and our ministry, you know, what we wanted to do for God was this thing over here, rather than seeing our marriage as a part of that. Right. As a way that that’s facilitated, like, ⁓ this is part of our ministry. It was kind of like our marriage was serving us while we served God. But.

As we’ve grown and as we’ve, you know, we’re almost to 19 years of marriage, we understand now that our marriage is serving God. Yeah. Well, and we get to show that every day to our children. We’ve gotten to show it with other relationships in our lives. It’s a huge thing in trying to walk out the gospel with your spouse, because it’s easy sometimes to share the gospel or to minister to someone.

outside your marriage. You you see that person for a very short amount of time. They don’t have very much opportunity to deeply hurt you or wound you where your spouse does. You’re there all the time. You see them every day. You’re in the same bed. You have the same home, same car. And there’s lots of opportunity to hurt each other because we’re still sinners that make mistakes and bad choices. practicing that over the years has been hard but awesome.

and a huge testimony to those around us and to our children of where our hearts are placed, which is in the understanding that God does have purpose for our marriage. I do want to make a side note for parents as we were, ⁓ you know, kind of sharing notes on today’s topic. I just felt really encouraged because I know that a lot of you are parents. ⁓ I just wanted to share that our words are so significant in our children’s lives and we can be a voice of encouragement every day.

reminding them that they have purpose, ⁓ praying for their purpose, and even explaining that their future marriage has purpose in God’s kingdom. And so don’t shy away from those opportunities that you’re given with your children, the time spent with them to be a voice that clearly communicates that your children have purpose. And I think that would be a huge impact, like you said, going back to today’s culture, kind of wandering about not knowing.

that they have purpose. I think that we can make a huge difference in the next generation just simply by sharing as often as we can that God has given them purpose and praying for that purpose. And that it’s built into them. Yeah. Just because of how God created them. ⁓ Living life with purpose, living, having a marriage that recognizes that it has purpose doesn’t have to feel monumental. Doesn’t have to feel like, we need to go start this huge, massive ministry. And no, it’s the dedication.

It’s the day to days. It’s the little yeses to God. It’s saying yes to him to reading the Bible every day or praying, serving him. When there’s conflict, are you praying with your spouse or choosing reconciliation? Are you choosing? Yeah. you choosing reconciliation? Are you showing your spouse and each other who your main focus is on? Is it on Christ or is it on this job opportunity? Is it on this, you know, ⁓

vacation you want to have. Those things aren’t bad, but if that’s all we’re pursuing, if our purpose is wrapped up in something outside of how God designed us, if it’s more than just our purpose is to glorify God with our life, to pursue him with our everything, and to do it together, to encourage. Are you encouraging your wife? Hey, have you been in the Word? What are you learning? What’s God showing you? How’s your prayer life? You want to pray with me? Let’s pray.

doing these things to hone in that purpose that God has for you and to have your eyes open to it. Awesome. Well, we’re going to end every episode with a quote from our book, Marriage After God, because it ties in so well to all of these topics we’re going to be covering. And so this is today’s quote. A marriage after God is an extraordinary journey of making ourselves known to God, knowing God and being willing to let him use our marriages for his purposes.

There is an amazing purpose for your marriage more than just making each other happy. We desire you to pursue kingdom purposes with your marriage to be a testimony to God, to others of God’s love and amazing grace. The testimony part is powerful because what that says is no matter what’s gone on in your marriage, no matter how hard it’s been or how great it’s been, when you look at it from the lens of what’s God doing, what’s God want, when you come across another couple, another family, another person, your children,

and you share, here’s what God’s been teaching us. Here’s how God has shown, you know, the path that God’s put us on and how God’s worked in our life. That’s what we’re doing. We’re sharing what God’s done in us. So, okay. At the end of each episode also, we have some discussion questions. So these questions came straight from our devotionals. I’ll show you guys again. Husband after God, wife after God. And so we just pulled these questions from there and we were going to answer them for each other with you.

But if you are listening with your spouse or if you guys are going to cover this material another time, we’d love to encourage you to ask each other these questions and just spend some time ⁓ dialoguing about this content. And if you want to, maybe even post your answers or the questions on your social medias if you have that and ⁓ share that. Tag at Marriage After God and show people that you’re on this journey with us. So first question, how does knowing your marriage has purpose change the way you look at your life?

For me, know that having something to look forward to, having something that’s motivating me beyond myself is life-giving. It’s so life-giving. It drives me to do the right thing, want to do the best thing and do it for him. That’s good. For me, I feel like there’s been many times throughout the years, hard times in our marriage, hard times in life.

things that make me feel in my flesh like wanting to quit, wanting to give up. And the Holy Spirit always brings me back to like, but you’re not done and you have something that I’ve made you for that’s greater than how you feel right now. so having that, realizing that there’s a purpose beyond just like we talked about happily ever after or having ⁓ a good experience, it’s much more meaningful than that.

purpose-driven, that it helps me like, you know, no matter how I feel right now, like this isn’t it. This isn’t the reality. The reality is there’s something else going on. There’s something bigger than me, bigger than us. And it helps me like push through and get to pass those moments of feeling like quitting. Yeah. I think as you were talking, the word that came to my mind is hope. Hope. feeds our hearts.

when we feel despair or when we feel like we’re wrestling or struggling or in those moments that our flesh is screaming at us, you you can’t forgive or you can’t apologize or you you shouldn’t. And so there’s something greater that we hold ourselves accountable so that we can overcome those wrestlings and look forward to better days and look beyond ourselves and ⁓ our circumstances. I think it’s hope. like that. Yeah. Okay. What are a few characteristics of God?

We talked about in the very beginning, you know, that we were created in his image. So I think it’s good that we reflect on who he is. think ⁓ whenever I think about God creating Adam and Eve, and he gives them things to do. God is a doer. He’s got a plan that he’s performing and walking out in creation. And we see it. He also creates beauty. And that’s something that’s really cool, because in our marriages, we can actually also create beauty. We can cultivate.

you know, our marriage is the way Adam was to cultivate the ground of the earth, to bring forth flowers and fruits and plants. And the Bible loves to use those types of analogies to describe these types of things. And so I think he’s a he’s a doer and a creator, and he made us to be doers and creators. And ⁓ creativity is cool. I love creativity. I would share that the things I’ve learned about God’s character that really stand out to me and really just fill me with so much

affirmation and love and joy are the things that I’ve actually learned about Him being married to you. it’s the way that you’ve walked… Him being married to me or you learned being married to me? What I say? It’s the things that I’ve learned about who He is, me being married to you. Yeah. So ⁓ because you’ve walked these things out in our marriage and you’ve been faithful in it because you love Him. So the way that you obey God and love me, I’ve learned about who God is and I would say that that’s He’s loving.

that he’s loyal and that he’s faithful. That’s good. Let me add one more characteristic. I think God’s beautiful and he made you beautiful. That’s really sweet. Thank you. Okay. What is one thing you think you should do differently in your marriage knowing that you are reflecting God’s love story or his gospel? ⁓ For me personally, just thinking about Ephesians 5.25, how am I loving you better in the Word of God?

like walking with you in the word of God, praying with you more, reminding you of scripture more, wanting to, as the word says, wash you by the water with the word. And I know washing you by the water with the word is Christ’s job, which he’s doing to us, but I get to participate in that because I’m your closest neighbor. I’m your husband. I get to see you all the time. just, yeah, good luck to me. How I would answer this, and I feel like it’s been the answer to

this question for many years, which I’ve gotten good at through different seasons, but it’s serving you. And I think that one reason, if I’m just being honest, why I’ve struggled with this one is especially raising a lot of littles. I’ve caught myself justifying why I shouldn’t have to serve you or no, you should serve me or why do I have to do that, that, that when I’ve already done this, this and this, like just constant battle in my mind. But what I’ve found is

times that I have set my flesh aside and have served you and have loved you, you know, going the extra distance for you, it has totally blessed our marriage. And me. So I should keep doing that. Yes. We just talked to the kids about this morning, telling them that what Jesus said, whoever wants to be the greatest must become the least. Whoever wants to be the greatest must be the servant of all. Serving. It’s telling your flesh no and loving others. So that’s a cool thing.

All right, I took this call to action from the devotionals. So ⁓ every week we’re going to give you guys ⁓ a challenge or something to do that would inspire you in your relationship with God and with your spouse. And so this week, we challenge you guys to spend time talking with your spouse about how the two of you reflect God’s image and then discuss the purpose of marriage. So share your guys’ opinions and points of views. ⁓ Grow to gain understanding in the powerful purpose.

God has for your marriage. This is so vital ⁓ to our understanding of marriage and how we operate in marriage. you can spend time talking over a date night or you could just go sit on the front porch. Whatever is easiest for you guys, maybe just lay in bed and go over these questions. But we really want to encourage you to spend time talking to each other about how the two of you reflect God’s image and what you think about the purpose of marriage.

And I’ll encourage if when you do this discussion, if you guys find yourself on very different areas and like just differing opinions on what this looks like and don’t take that as a discouragement. Use it as a gauge and say, OK, well, let’s discuss the differences. Like, why do you think that way? Why do you feel that way? And maybe over the next 30 weeks, come back to this. Do this question again and just see how God has slowly unified you and brought you closer together on these these ideas.

Awesome. So we’re going to end in prayer and that’s it. We really hope that you guys enjoyed this episode and look forward to every following week until we get through these devotionals. Dear Lord, thank you so much for creating us in your image. Thank you for the creativity you have poured into us and more importantly, the purpose you have given us. Thank you also for the purpose of marriage. We pray that we would have a greater understanding of what this purpose is and how we can intentionally live it out.

God, we pray for every couple listening right now that they would humble themselves before you and seek your word and seek understanding and seek wisdom in this purpose. We pray, Lord, that these couples would draw closer to you. And we pray for ourselves too, that we would continue to serve you and to chase after you boldly. God, we just thank you for today. And we ask that you would inspire us to serve one another in love, just like Jesus has served his bride, the church.

and saved her. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Amen. We love you all and we’ll see you next time for the next episode on this 30-week devotional series.