The Grace and Beauty of Marriage

What a blessing it is to be At the Well as a contributor! It is an honor to join with so many talented writers with whom God’s grace shines through each day At the Well.

I was so excited to see that my first assigned day was To Have and To Hold and on the topic of marriage. As this post was being prepared, the church where I work was filled with activity in preparation for the pastor’s wedding. He lost his wife to cancer and met a wonderful woman who had lost her husband to cancer and they are rejoicing that the Lord brought them together for a new beginning in marriage. They are rejoicing in God’s great grace and with true joy over the beauty of marriage. It is so easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new marriage.

I’m also caught up in the excitement of an “old” marriage. Yesterday my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. How exciting it is to look back over the years, to cherish the memories and to behold the beauty of marriage. To reflect on God’s grace that sustained us in hard times, enabled us to love beyond what was within ourselves and to be constantly changed to become more like Jesus by His guiding Spirit within us.

2 Peter 3:18 tells us to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” God’s grace is an amazing thing. Grace is a gift given by God to us when we are the least deserving. Recently I came across some principles of grace that can be applied to marriage:

As a new bride, it was easy to be self-centered and wanting things done my way. Living with a new husband meant having to consider his needs, wants, and desires. I quickly learned I didn’t have much grace in my heart and I desperately needed God’s grace to flow from my heart. God’s grace is like a flowing stream, He fills our hearts with His grace and we can in turn flow into others.

The Bible tells us that there is none without sin, we are all sinners. It also tells us the wages of sin is death, but God’s gift is eternal life. His mercy and salvation cleanses us from our sin. We will do wrong, we will stumble at times and at times struggle to do the right thing. Daily we can depend on God’s mercy and grace to bring right to those wrongs. Our mates, family, and friends will do wrong sometimes. We can extend God’s mercy and grace to them. We are not above anyone because we are forgiven.

It is as simple as God has forgiven us, we are to forgive others.

Marriage is a perfect place for God’s grace to be sought and shared. Forgiveness, mercy, humbleness and generosity are hard things to give at times, but when we freely receive God’s unending supply of grace, we can freely give to others, liberally and lavishly. These are the ingredients for a beautiful marriage.