iPad
Library
3:04 AM
The Meaning of Marriage
Spirit.
at is, you on y Iscover your own appinessa e
each of you7has put the happiness of your spouse ahead of
Your own, in a sustained way, in response to what Jesus;
has done for you. Some will ask, "If I put the happiness of
iny spouse ahead of my own needs—then what do I ge
but of it?" The answer is—happiness. That is what you get,
but a happiness through serving others instead of using!
them, a happiness that won't be bad for you, It is the joy
that comes from giving joy, from loving another person in
a costly way. hoday's culture of the "Me-Marriage" find
Ghis very proposal—of putting the interests of your spous
Shead of your own—oppressive. But that is because it doesf
hot look deeply enough into this crucial part of Christian
Ceaching about the nature of reality. What is that teach-I
Christianity asserts, to begin with, that God is triune—
that is, three persons within one God. And from John 17
and other passages we learn that from all eternity, each
person—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has glorified, hon-
ored, and loved the other two. So there is an "other-orien-
tation" within the very being of God. When Jesus Christ
went to the cross, he was simply acting in character. As C.
S. Lewis wrote, when Jesus sacrificed himself for us, he did
"in the wild weather of his outlying provinces" that which
from all eternity "he had done at home in glory and glad-
Back to page 43
77 of 348
25 pages lett in this chapter
pinimg.com