Pastor's Ponderings, June 3, 2019

Celebrating 41 Years Of Marriage Through Commitment And Communication

On June 3, 2019, my wife, Jacquelyne and I will celebrate forty-one years of marriage.  It has been quite an adventure filled with memories that will last us a lifetime.  However, we feel that we have been very blessed despite the ups and downs, because we still feel God put us together.  

We made a commitment early in our marriage that God was to be the final arbiter of every disagreement by agreeing to clear any disputes with Him and each other before we went to sleep. We recognized that we had to personally sacrifice and compromise to make the marriage work.

As the husband, I wanted to treat my wife with consideration and respect so that our prayers are not hindered (1 Peter 3:7).  I also take the scripture seriously that I am to love Jacquelyne and to demonstrate this love by my willingness to give myself up for her.  This passage in Ephesians can be summarized by, “He who loves his wife loves himself”(Ephesians 5:25-28). 

Jacquelyne also believes the scriptures in that she should be submissive to me (1 Peter 3:1, 2).  Furthermore, she teaches that she should be submissive to her own husband in everything just as she does to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-24).  The reason why this works in our household is that we also firmly believe the scripture that we are to submit ourselves to one and another (Ephesians 5:21). 

There are some areas that my wife is an expert in and I follow her lead.  As a powerful woman of God, Jacquelyne speaks as an oracle of God and I have been blessed with wisdom from the throne of God through her ministry.  She is organized, goal-oriented and serious.  I am so blessed to have her in my life.  

Again, we thank God for 41 years of marriage. We share these scriptures with you that have worked for us and hope that God will use them to be a blessing to those who want to have Him accompany, preserve, and defend them as they live lives together and submit to God.

1 Peter 3:7
New International Version (NIV)

7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Ephesians 5:25-28
New International Version (NIV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 

26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 

27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 

28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself

1 Peter 3:1, 2
New International Version (NIV)

1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 

2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Ephesians 5:22-24

New International Version (NIV)
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 

24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Ephesians 5:21

New International Version (NIV)

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.