You Never Marry the Right Person - Part 3

February 13, 2016
Pastor Jeff Lampl

You Never Marry the Right Person
How our culture misunderstands compatibility.
Part 3

“The first reason that no two people are compatible for marriage is . .  . .

Tim Keller in The Meaning of Marriage” continues . .  

“namely, that marriage profoundly changes us. But there is another reason. Any two people who enter into marriage are spiritually broken by sin, which among other things means to be self-centered—living life incurvatus in se.

As author Denis de Rougemont said, “Why should neurotic, selfish, immature people suddenly become angels when they fall in love ... ?” That is why a good marriage is more painfully hard to achieve than athletic or artistic prowess.

Raw, natural talent does not enable you to play baseball as a pro or write great literature without enduring discipline and enormous work. Why would it be easy to live lovingly and well with another human being in light of what is profoundly wrong within our human nature? Indeed, many people who have mastered athletics and art have failed miserably at marriage. So the biblical doctrine of sin explains why marriage—more than anything else that is good and important in this fallen world—is so painful and hard”

In my view marriage is the most difficult and most rewarding of all things on earth.  It’s difficult for the reasons cited above.  It’s rewarding, however, to the degree that we allow God to shape us into givers, lovers of our spouse above ourselves, men and women who have given ourselves fully to the flourishing of another human being, a human being who will not and cannot ever meet our ideal of what a marriage partner should be, yet is exactly the partner that God wants us to have.   I have often thought that the greatest achievement any man on earth could strive for is for his wife to reach the end of her life able to say, “I was truly love by this man”. 

Suggestion:
Order the Money Life Couples Assessment and complete it with your spouse (a $19.95 investment) and discover how financialy compatible you are.  Complete the assessment then review your individual reports and discuss them.   Leverage your money challenges into a method of bringing you together instead of pulling you apart.