A Tale of Two Brains
On one of our many drives to Texas, Jenifer and I listened to message given by Mark Gungor called “A Tale of Two Brains.” In this humorous teaching on the differences between men and women, Gungor points out a scripture on marriage that few of us heed. He suggests that if you obey this one simple verse, you are guaranteed to never have any problems in your marriage. What’s the verse? It’s a teaching of Paul in I Corinthians 7:1 where he writes: “…it is good for a man not to marry.” Pretty simple, huh? While he might seem overly negative about marriage, he's just warning us with the realities of married life. In fact, he goes on to explain in verse 28 that "those who marry will face many troubles in this life." The worthwhile insight for those of us who (against the apostle Paul’s better judgment) have chosen to marry is that marriage troubles are a normal part of marriage…even the best Christ-centered marriage. So much so that God told us to expect them. And none of us is exempt. Jenifer and I have no “Perfect Marriage” trophies on our shelf. We have to work through relational difficulties just like everyone does. The real question is how you face the troubles in your marriage. Do you ignore them or try to hide them from others, as most of us instinctively do? Or do you see them as opportunities to allow God to work in and through you? If problems are a normal part of married life, could it be that God allows them as a means for us to draw close to Him, see His power in our lives, and become more like Jesus? I think He desires to transform us in this way with the ultimate goal of using us to demonstrate Him to others. If that’s true (and I think it is), then I want to strongly encourage every married couple in our church to consider finding a marriage mentor. I cannot say enough about the potential for God to work in us as we learn to face the problems that we all have in our married lives and allow God to use a more experienced couple to draw us into Him. If you didn’t listen to Paul and you’ve gone ahead and gotten married, then this may be your only hope! I want to assure you that marriage mentoring is for anyone whose marriage is imperfect. This means you. Our ultimate goal is to see this type of relational discipleship become a normal part of the culture of our church, where it is a natural part of our conversations to share what God is doing in our homes though our marriage mentors. If you'd like help connecting with a marriage mentor, contact the HomeLife office at 678-784-5230.