By David ReayThursday 2 Nov 2017LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
5-6 Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
7-8a Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen. (JBP)
Scarcely a month goes by without my hearing of yet another marriage failing. A number of those are Christian couples; some are couples I myself have married. All marriages seem to begin with bright promise. No-one seems to walk up the aisle gloomily, or exchange vows sadly. Most weddings are glad occasions.
The problem is that a wedding is not a marriage. A wedding is an event, a marriage is a process. A wedding presents some logistical and perhaps financial challenges that are met and dealt with. A marriage presents issues that are not so easily handled. Couples come to celebrants wanting to arrange a wedding; a good celebrant wants instead to plan for a marriage.
It is good for a marriage to begin with a wedding. It is essential for a wedding to be followed by a marriage; otherwise all we have is an empty and expensive ceremony. Sadly, it can be true that the more time and money we lavish on the wedding the less time and effort we might spend on staying married.
Many church weddings feature texts like this one. We all believe in love, especially on a wedding day. But texts like this are not at all dreamily sentimental. Love is hard going; it goes against our ingrained egocentricity. Being in love on the wedding day is a piece of cake compared with loving every day of every mundane or challenging week in marriage. A wedding is a special day; a marriage is a special life.
Blessings
David Reay