To all of the ladies, my sincere wish of Happy Valentine's Day – with a special greeting of love to my incredible wife, Sharon, who has endured more than any woman should be expected too in our marriage, which will soon observe its 40th anniversary.
There have been plenty of peaks and valleys over the years, but through many things God's love for both of us has made it all work. For that, I am forever thankful and indebted to this special praying woman of God.
While I've disappointed her, myself and God in thoughts, words and actions, I am thankful for her love, kindness, compassion and forgiving spirit. I am thankful to God for the love we have for each other that has endured many years and I pray many more years are in our future.
We've brought two wonderful daughters into his world, who are married now and we are blessed and thankful they have Godly husbands and they have and continue to bring offspring into our family. We are truly blessed with a growing family and I pray a special blessing on each of these marriages on this special day of love.
While there is some question about who St. Valentine was since three early martyrs shared the name, the best guess is that Valentinus was a priest in Rome around AD 270. One story says that the emperor, Claudius II, believed that single men made the best soldiers and so he forbade weddings. Valentinus performed weddings for Christian couples anyway in defiance of the emperor. He was arrested and imprisoned. As a prisoner he won the emperor’s favor until he attempted to convert Claudius to faith in Christ. His personal evangelism proved fatal. Claudius had Valentinus killed on February 14.
While marriage is important because it provides companionship, an outlet for sexuality, and a setting for procreation and rearing children, the Apostle Paul made it clear that marriage is preeminently a picture of the love and fidelity between God and his people.
Couples can find much guidance in the words that Paul has for the church in Corinith that we read in the first book of Corinthians. These scriptures are commonly used in wedding ceremonies, but doesn't hurt to read them often and let them sink into our soul.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV) reads, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
In 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 we read, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
1 Corinthians 13:13 sums it up, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
In marriage, we have a picture of God’s covenant faithfulness. The love and fidelity of the husband and wife —inconsistent and imperfect as they may be—are an icon of God’s perfect love and fidelity.
In this nation, marriage has fallen on hard times and an all out attack and needs to be rescued — first of all in the Church.
We pray for our nation and our state as lawmakers mull over changing ideals and are too accepting of ungodly acts like same-sex marriage, which is clearly contrary to God's law, his Word and teaching about spiritual unions.
It's wrong.
If we need to legislate against it, then the Church and God's people should be out front sounding loud support for laws and amendments to constitutions that support the preservation of marriage as between a man and a woman with no variations from that.
God’s people need to be the bright spots in a declining marriage moral culture and too often, we are not.
Renewal begins as we understand and begin to live out the high calling of Christian marriage. Husband love your wives. Wives love your husbands. That's our mission.
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.
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