Shipshape Your Marriage
Shipshape Your Marriage! The word “shipshape” means: good and seamanlike order, prepared for all contingencies.
Wouldn’t you like to have your marriage shipshape, strong, and prepared for whatever storms of life may come against it so they will not prevail and destroy the marriage “ship” or damage the hull beyond repair?
In the book I wrote, The Fulfilled Marriage: The Three Doors, I purposely divided it into two major sections. The first part of the book deals with “Repairing,” or for engaged couples, “Preparing Your Life for Marriage.” The second part of the book is entitled: “Building Your Marriage Together.” Addressed in that section are the issues in which a couple can work together to improve their marriage.
Most marriage related books and seminars normally begin by discussing relational issues of marriage, like communication, sexual fulfillment, finances, and many other issues that are encountered throughout life. Part Two of The Fulfilled Marriage addresses those issues. Just addressing issues, however, can be like trying to patch the holes in the rotting hull of a ship, when the actual hull and supporting members need to be replaced with fresh wood.
To build a great marriage, both husband and wife first need to be spiritually and emotionally healthy and mature as individuals. The quality of a marriage can only attain to the level of maturity of the spouse that is least prepared for all the work, trials, and stresses that every life and marriage encounters.
In The Fulfilled Marriage: The Three Doors, one hundred and twenty pages are devoted to a step by step process showing how you can become a better wife or husband, and even more importantly, become a better follower of Christ. A good marriage relationship where both husband and wife become better as individuals and disciples brings joy, fulfillment, and eternal purpose to the marriage.
This process of becoming is what we call sanctification or discipleship, and its central purpose is to enable us to become more and more Christ-like. That purpose should be the predominant motivation in every Christian’s life. It is this process of becoming more and more like Christ that potentially can give every Christian couple the very best marriage possible and eliminate separations and divorce within the church.
Although the words “discipleship” or “sanctification” are often misused, or used in other contexts, these words are probably the best way for us to identify the process of becoming more like Jesus. It’s not just about being a follower, but about being transformed into a true disciple, radically changed. When a husband and wife understand the need for this full transformation into a fully committed disciple in their individual lives and within their marriage relationship, they will develop the oneness that God intends for their marriage.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5, New International Version (NIV)
Christianity is all about transformation. Just as our salvation brings a totally new life, our marriages should also reflect who we now are as God’s adopted children. A marriage that is built to God’s plan and standards requires much more than just human effort and intellectual understanding. It requires transformational changes that make us different than we were before in our relationship as a couple, and in our individual roles as husband and wife. This must take place as part of the process of becoming an unswerving disciple of Jesus Christ.
A life well spent on pleasing our Father is a successful life and it gives us “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
1 Peter 1:8 (NIV)
Love and blessings, Ted
If you’d like to get a copy of this book, click here for the details and link.
