"Love Believes the Best," Part 1

I have been looking forward to this theme since our series began! My reason? As I read more on Christian marriage, some of it becomes repetitive. The material may be excellent, but the excitement factor is gone. Occasionally, I switch to another subtopic or author. Other times I continue, hoping to encounter something fresh. I was captivated when I read this Love Dare chapter. It is one of my favorites, so I hope you enjoy it as well.

The foundation verse is 1 Corinthians 13:7: “Love . . . believes all things, hopes all things” (ESV). The Kendrick brothers created a rather unique allegory to cover this. To do it justice, I will heavily paraphrase and quote their writing. I also want to cover this theme thoroughly, so this will be the first of three messages. Put on your ‘imagination hat’ and let’s begin our journey!

Deep inside your heart, there is an Appreciation Room where you store warm thoughts and memories of your spouse. Kind words and phrases about their positive qualities are written on these walls. It may include physical descriptors such as “beautiful eyes”, personality traits such as “honest” or “hard-working” and even spiritual virtues such as “truly loves the Lord”. These attributes are embedded in your memory. When you visit this room, your appreciation grows for them. The more time you spend here, the more grateful you become.

Many of these were written early in your relationship. You spent considerable time in the Appreciation room and it undoubtedly influenced your decision to get married. But as we previously learned from a message on thoughtfulness, things can change. It is now possible that you visit this room far less – perhaps hardly at all.

We will further explore these changes next time. For now, I offer two encouraging suggestions. First, make it a priority to ‘revisit’ the Appreciation Room. Look at all the wonderful things inside and recall when you dwelled there. As you do, say a prayer of gratitude. This leads to my second suggestion. Hopefully, you have noticed throughout this series that discovering and following God’s plan for marriage requires prayer - lots of it! So far, I have focused on your praying for the Lord to help you. I now encourage you to pray for your spouse as well, if you are not already doing so. Remember not to pray selfishly that they meet your needs or become what you want. Pray instead that they draw closer to God - and that as their spouse, you would encourage and support them in their journey.

See you next week.

Fred