Two of our church’s young adults, Jordan Spaans and Hope Carlson, were married last evening at our church. It was a beautiful wedding. Dr. Kuivenhoven spoke movingly on marital love in Christ from 1 Cor. 13:4-7 and I spoke briefly at the reception on “Ten Commandments for a Blessed Marriage.” Here are my notes:
1. Put God first, each other second, and yourself third in your marriage.
2. Build your marriage solidly on the Word of God, fearing God, hating sin, loving Christ, and pursuing the King’s highway of holiness.
3. Pray often together—humbly, expectantly, and earnestly—both at stated times and spontaneously as needs arise.
4. Practice conscientious, daily, intentional family worship each day.
5. Love each other with your whole heart, mind, strength, words, affections, and actions.
6. Develop and maintain good communication skills which begins with good listening and includes understanding each other.
7. Compliment each other every day—ideally, several times each day—and aim for variety in those compliments.
8. Cultivate intimacy—spiritual intimacy, emotional intimacy, sharing intimacy, hobby intimacy, physical intimacy.
9. Develop spiritual and natural friendship with each other. Stay best friends in your marriage and grow in that friendship by treating each other well in every area of life and by developing mutual interests.
10. God willing, if the Lord blesses you with children, develop togetherness in parenting by bringing your children up in the fear, admonition, nurture, and love of God.
If you follow these ten commandments each day, you will be guaranteed a blessed marriage.
Please pray for Jordan and Hope that their marriage will be stamped with divine benediction in Christ.
