Marriage Builders : God’s Love Can Overcome

To read Part 1 of the Marriage Builders series, click here.

A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  John 13:34-35

God’s love is who God is. His Love confirms the authenticity of us as His followers, because it is an attribute He calls us to emulate. What better place to demonstrate His love than in our marriages?

Francis Schaeffer is said to have once told this true story to a couple who was having marital problems: Adolf Hitler issued a friendly request in the late 1930s that all Christian groups were to cooperate and communicate together.  By 1940, it became a formal command that all religious groups must unite and cooperate under Nazi rule. Half of the Christian churches in Germany complied and half refused. Those who who did not comply faced ruthless persecutions. In every church that resisted, many people died in concentration camps as families were torn apart. When the World War ll ended and the Allies liberated Germany, feelings of deep bitterness seeped in between these churches, both those who had complied and those who had resisted Nazi rule.

Though the war was over, strife was common in the German Christian community because of what they’d been through, and they realized that something had to be done. They needed healing and forgiveness; but how?

Leaders from each faction and church convened to pray. Each church leader spent time in prayer, examining Christ’s commands, confronting their own hearts in the light of Scripture and seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit. Soon after, a miracle occurred: they forgave one another and came back together in real, cooperative unity, despite the great hurt and betrayal that both sides felt.

Despite pain, betrayal, trials or loneliness, love can persevere. When love prevails in the midst of marriage, especially in times of strife and disagreement, it presents to God and each other a willingness to heal. Pursuing love in the midst of one’s toil is the irrefutable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ!

Questions to challenge, inspire and equip you to be better in your commitment, love and marriage:

Read John 13:34-35; John 14-15; Colossians 3:12-14

• What does it mean to you that Love confirms the authenticity of Jesus? How does love confirm your authenticity?
• How can you demonstrate love, even when you are hurt, broken, and tired?
• How can you present yourself to God and to each other a willingness to heal?

© 1994, 2009, 2012, R. J. Krejcir, Into Thy Word Ministries www.intothyword.org Printed with permission