3 Ways to Safeguard Your Marriage

1. HONOR

Honor is the oxygen of every relationship – especially marriage.

Denying your spouse honor is like denying them oxygen. Eventually there will be an emotional and mental disconnect until the relationship eventually dies by means of suffocation. There’s no greater way to start showing honor than by using your words. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Words kill, words give life: their either poison or fruit – you choose.” So…

• Use your words to build each other up, not tear each other down.
• NEVER embarrass your spouse by publicly calling them out or “throwing them under the bus.”
• Since we generally find what we look for, don’t look for something to complain about in his or her life. Instead look for things in your spouse that you admire and are thankful for and compliment them.

2. INTIMACY

Sex is the best wedding present ever! God gave it to every man and women who enter into the covenant of marriage (it’s so much better than a toaster or a picture frame!).

In marriage sex is the ultimate form of intimacy and transparency. It keeps the two of you close and connected and it’s blessed by God Himself. It’s NOT a tool of manipulation to get your spouse to finish the honey-do list. Sex is a gift from God to both of you. 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 says, “The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.”

When it comes to sex in marriage perhaps the two greatest temptations are (1) To get you to start having it before you’re married and (2) To get you to stop having it after your married. If life is too busy for sex, than life is too busy. Rearrange your priorities to do whatever you have to do to protect your intimacy.

3. COMMUNICAITON

Just as honor is the oxygen of every relationship, communication is the breath of every relationship. After all it’s possible to be surrounded by oxygen and still choose not to breathe. This is what happens when we don’t learn how to communicate with our spouse.

And remember that communication requires us to do two things (1) Talk and (2) Listen. In fact, James 1:19 says that we should all be, “…quick to listen, slow to speak.” When it comes to any relationship too much silence can be deadly so communication is key to safeguarding your marriage.

• Set time aside everyday to simply talk to each other.
• Write down important things throughout the day that you can share with your spouse when you get home as a way of sharing life together.
• Delete the distractions and learn to LISTEN to each other. Put down your cell phone, close your laptop, and genuinely listen to that person whom you love so much that you promised to spend the rest of your life with them!

After God, the most important relationship in your life is the one that you have with your husband or wife. Protect it.