Great Marriages don't just happen

11 "Great Marriage Killers"

1. Over-commitment and physical exhaustion.
2. Excessive credit and conflict over how money will be spent.
3. Selfishness.
4. Conflict with in-laws.
5. Unrealistic expectations.
6. Space invaders.
7. Alcohol and drug abuse.
8. Pornography, gambling, and other behavioral addictions.
9. Business failure.
10. Business success.
11. Getting married too young.

What is your understanding of marriage? Many cultures have different understandings and expectations of marriage. We live in a country where some men can legally have up to 4 wives (and sometimes more). Some cultures have arranged marriages where the wedding day is the first time the bride and groom meet each other. Some cultures allow girls as young as 13 to be married. In some cultures marriage is little more than a social transaction for economic and political reasons. 

One change that seems to be evident within our western culture concerns the commitment to 'death til us part'. Divorce statistics are alarmingly high in Australia and the USA. There have been many reasons given and excuses proposed. While there are legitimate cases of divorce, how many divorces are due to 'irreconcilable circumstances' that actually are reconcilable if only the couples put in the hard yards, put each other first and persevered?

Look over the list above. I do not doubt that these are each legitimate problems that most if not every marriage has to deal with (at least one from the list). When your marriage stares at one of these problems square in the face, which it most likely will, what will you do? Will you push through united together or each take a individual track that leads you further apart? Will you let the circumstance of the moment destroy the commitment that you each made to each other, before God and man? Relationships are hard and marriage is the relationship that takes the most work because it is the most important between mankind and the one in which we are most vulnerable.

How important are those vows that you promised to each other on your wedding day? Is the back door a legitimate exit from your marriage or do you truly believe that it is until death that you part? Will you follow the general direction of our western culture and treat marriage as a temporary commitment or will you do as you promised? A biblical worldview leads us to hold to the life long commitment we make on our wedding day. We need to decide now what we will do in the storms when they come. I pray that we will love our spouses more than any other person in this world. I pray that we will always put our spouse before ourselves as we strive to love them selflessly and unconditionally. When the storms then come, it will be about doing what is best for our spouse and not ourselves.

"I'll ask you, the reader, how will you beat the odds that could wreck your marriage? How will you build a solid relationship that will last until death takes one of you across the Great Divide? There is only one answer: give your marriage and your children the priority they deserve. Let nothing squeeze them out of first place. Then take these beloved family members to the Lord in prayer every day of your life." Dr James Dobson (Family Talk)