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Marriage; It's Worth Celebrating Written by Jay Laffoon
Do you Celebrate Your Marriage? We mean REALLY CELEBRATE the gift of marriage God has given you? Often, in marriage, as we walk through the day to day routine of life, we forget to celebrate THE greatest gift God has bestowed on His people. For a Christian couple, marriage should be a life-long party! Yes, we understand that life is hard and yes we understand that even in the best of Christian marriages there are tough times. However, when we realize the benefits of Celebrating Marriage together, it gives us a reason to rejoice! The first benefit of a Christian marriage is that God has given us a Partner. What joy there is for the couple that has built a friendship over the years and walks through life with their best friend? We have been best friends virtually since the day we met on our blind date. Conversation was easy and fun! For others that friendship must develop. All friendships take time, energy and effort. When we take the time, put forth the energy and effort to building a friendship with our spouse, we take our eyes off ourselves and learn the gift of serving. Further with Christ at the center of our friendship we fulfill the Scripture which says: “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecc. 4:12 The second benefit is that we have a Provider. Couples who Celebrate, realize that each one is gifted uniquely and we learn to defer to the strength of the other. This fleshes itself out differently in every marriage. But couples who Celebrate realize that in marriage we were meant to complete each other, not compete with each other. In our marriage, Laura is great with decorating the home and making sure my socks match my outfit. I on the other hand provide Laura with a spouse who actually understands the word budget! If Laura didn’t “provide” me with an eye for color my entire house would be beige, and if I didn’t “provide” her with economic sanity she would be up to her ears in debt. We provide exactly what the other needs. Pleasure is perhaps the most recognizable benefit to a marriage that Celebrates. Romance and human sexuality are a gift from God that has unfortunately been perverted by our world. We firmly believe that God intended couples to have GREAT sex lives. In fact studies are showing that romance and sex in a marriage are a good barometer of the state of the marriage. It is said that for a woman “when all is right with the world all is right in the bedroom” and for a man, “when all is right in the bedroom all is right with the world”. You see the pleasure of marriage is best fleshed out when we work (that’s right, it’s not spontaneous combustion like on TV) at making the world or the bedroom “right” for our spouse. The final blessing is the Prize. Studies abound that married couples live longer, happier, less stressful and lives. Their financial status is much higher, and their standard of living much greater than that of single or divorced people. Beyond the earthly blessings listed above, there comes the blessing of God. Throughout Scripture God uses the analogy of marriage to the relationship of Christ with the Church. God seeks to bless his church as it is faithful to the Person of Christ. In the same way God seeks to bless couples who are faithful to each other. So, why Celebrate Your Marriage? Because of the benefits waiting for you! Let the PARTY begin! Jay and Laura Laffoon are marriage experts! For 23 years they have been on this marriage journey together. In 1995, they founded Celebrate! Ministries, an organization designed to encourage and inspire couples to celebrate their marriage. The Laffoon's use humor and real life stories to motivate others to not give up but to Celebrate! Thousands of couples across the U.S. have learned to celebrate their marriage at the Laffoon's popular, "Celebrate Your Marriage" conferences. "Celebrate Your Marriage" has been described as a " Vegas show without the show girls"!
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