Give Up Yourself For Your Marriage
Selfishness is quite possibly the most dangerous threat to achieving oneness in marriage. It affects how we talk to each other, how we divide responsibilities in the home, how we resolve conflicts, and even how we spend our time. If we live our lives for ourselves, thinking only of our selfish desires and interests, in the end God gives us exactly what we want: ourselves.
When we look carefully at the word “selfish,” it describes a person who is solely interested in taking care of their own comfort or pleasure without any regard for others. A person who’s selfish will only think of how they will benefit from something when it comes to making decisions.
Think about that for a moment… Selfish people are so involved with making sure they aren’t used or walked over, that they end up doing that very same thing to others. People like this are blinded when it comes to the needs of others because of his/her own needs.
The joy, happiness and fulfillment that you are seeking in your marriage can only be found when you’re living according to God’s word. Christ put our need to be reconciled to God as top priority. He gave up His life to die in our place and that’s putting others needs first. And that is absolutely what God has called us to do. James 3:13-16
For marriages to experience oneness, you must put your spouse’s needs above your own. But to do this, you must first give up your will to Christ, and then you will understand what it truly means to be selfless for that of your spouse and to glorify God.
Unless you can begin to put others before yourself, including your spouse, and learn to depend on each other, selfishness will disable or destroy your marriage as you face the difficulties that are bound to occur.
~Nick~
Helpful Verses
2 Corinthians 5:15: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Romans 15:1-3 : “We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.”
