Adam and Eve: God’s Plan, Part 5

Jul 24, 2013 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 “Learn to love well to be well loved.”

So, now that we have talked about lessons Adam and Eve have taught us (Part 3 and Part 4) – even from their poor decisions – just how do we live out this covenant called marriage? What is the strategy to implement the ideas we have been discussing?

In other words, how do we live out God’s plan for our marriages as we discussed in Part 1 and Part 2? The next two blogs will discuss some practical strategic steps for us to apply in our own marriages to bring us back to God’s perfect design.

Strategy #1: Devotion:

How are you growing in your relationship with the Father? Mark 12:30-31. Love God with everything you’ve got, every fiber of your being, and love God’s kids the way God loves His kids.” (Paraphrased, just in case you didn’t know). Love God first and then love your spouse. Marriage is a great way to live out these commandments. What better way to show love and devotion to God, by first loving Him, and second, loving our spouse. If we can’t love our spouse like ourselves, how do we expect to love God’s other kids? Devotion. Love God and then love your spouse.

Consecrate yourself to one another. Webster defines consecration, “to devote or dedicate, to give of yourself completely to the other.” Consecrate or devote yourself to your spouse. Don’t just touch your toes in the shallow edge of the relationship water, but jump in with all of you, to splash and soak in the waves of devotion and commitment to your spouse.

The most precious and beautiful gift a husband or wife can give to their spouse is themselves. Ephesians 5:21 says to “Submit to one another…”

Devotion to God makes it easier to devote yourself to your spouse. For us it starts with devotion to God and continues by devoting ourselves to one another as unconditionally as possible. How are you devoting yourself, to and only to, your spouse?

Strategy #2: Demonstration:  How are you showing love to your spouse? In what practical ways do you love your spouse? How are you demonstrating your love? Read to them. Write them a love letter. Put notes all over for them to find. Recently Jerolyn went to open one of her classic books (she was back to reading Josephus) that she returns to periodically, only to find in one of the pages a sticky note I had left for her literally months if not years ago.

Surprise them with a gift of what it is they like…time, a drive, conversation (ask more questions and listen), help with the tasks around the house, all things that don’t cost much, if anything, except your effort and energy. Of course there is always the big dollar ticket items like dinner and a movie, a night away, etc. We are all familiar with the ways we each give and receive love best. Find out what best speaks to them and try to meet their needs of receiving love.

Find ways to demonstrate love to your spouse. The old adage of put your money where your mouth is becomes truest in your marriage. We need to communicate, but often we only give lip service to what we “would” do. Make it an action step to deliver on what you WILL do to demonstrate love to your spouse. Big and small examples are vital to the flavor and spice of loving your spouse.

3 suggestions:

1. Stop right now and try to be creative. Creative or not, make a list.
2. Commit to doing something today to demonstrate.
3. Go to your calendar after steps 1. and 2. and plan action steps for more demonstrations of love.

Tuesday will be the second set of demonstration ideas. To listen to the whole sermon, go here and scroll down to Adam and Eve.

~Jim and Jerolyn