Romans 12:9-10 - “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”

It is in relationships that we learn to be unselfish and loving. And no human relationship has a greater impact on your life than marriage, if you are married.

One of the purposes of life is to grow up and realize it’s not all about you. In fact real happiness comes in giving your life away and being unselfish and serving and loving. This is called maturity. Life is a laboratory of learning how to love. It’s the most important thing in life because God is love, and he wants you to become like him. He wants to make you like Jesus Christ. He wants to build character in you.

If you’re single, God uses the relationships that you have in your life to build Christ-like character, especially those closest to you. If you’re married, the number one tool that God uses in your life to build Christ-like character is your spouse. Everyday we get hundreds of opportunities to not think about ourselves but instead about the other person(s).

Before I got married so many years ago I really thought I knew how to love a woman. But I knew nothing about love! Now, after 40 years of marriage, I know that love washes the dishes. I know that love takes out the garbage. I know that love puts the other person first.

Excel in showing respect for each other so that you grow to be more like Christ.
(Taken with edits from Rick Warren’s, God Uses Your Spouse to Build Your Character.)

Let’s pray through what God has given us in Romans 8:9-10, for the relationships in our churches, singles and married.

-AP