Marriage Enrichment

Eliminating the little foxes that spoil the vine
One of God’s major purposes for marriage is to mirror His image (imago Dei). After God created the earth and the animals, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The account continues, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26–27).
What does it mean to mirror God’s image? Your marriage should exalt God and glorify Him to a world that desperately needs to see who He is. Because we are created in the image of God, people who would not otherwise know what God is like should be able to look at us and get a glimpse of Him.
Good marriages don’t come easy. They are a result of hard work in all ramifications:-Spiritually, emotionally and physically. However as we all work hard to enrich our marriages, we need to aware of the following marriage destroyers:

Selfishness:

Marriage is very beautiful when it involves two givers. Just like the Bible enjoins us to love others as we love ourselves. Treat your spouse the way you will like to be treated, if possible better.

Unrealistic expectations:

couples often go into marriage expecting their marriage reflect some romantic fiction from Holly wood. Marriage is made up of two imperfect humans who are incapable of delivering on all the expectations. These romantic illusions which unfortunately, characterize most recent marriages often lead to huge disappointments. This creates an emotional minefield that can blow-up the marriage anytime if unchecked.

Pornography and other addictions:

Addictions tears the fabric of a family apart. Experimenting with these vices ultimately end in the death of a marriage. A small crack in the sidewalk is all that is needed to grow these most vigorous weeds. Any couple, who wants to maintain an intimate, long-term marriage, must beware of these vices which take couples apart rather than bringing them together.

Financial management:

Wisdom is required for proper allocation of funds in a marriage. Overspending on unnecessary things can prevent you from having enough resources to enrich your marriage.

Physical exhaustion and over commitment to other activities:

Couples easily fall into the temptation of wanting to conquer the world while depriving their spouse the time they should have spent with them. This is the reason a lot of marriages fall apart. Couples must reserve time for each other if they hope to keep their love alive.
The biggest threat to the stability of marriages today involves a situation whereby a woman who is vulnerable depends on her husband to meet her emotional needs and the husband who is a workaholic has little or no time to spend with the family. If this happens on a continuous basis, she nags and attacks him for his failures. The man on the other hand who is filling so many shoes at the same time doesn’t know how to cope with all his external responsibilities as well as meet his wife needs. This leads to more anger on the part of the wife and the husband spending more time at work where he is respected. Often times, the end result is divorce if not prevented.
Couples need to bear in mind that no amount of success is worth the loss of your family. Bonding in a family requires time together- the time that can’t be given if it is absorbed elsewhere.

Written by Dr. Godwin & Blessing ude