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Together for God

25 couples attended the marriage retreat held on 1 May. Pastor Eugene shares with us what it means to commit our marriages to Christ.

marriage-retreatAs followers of Jesus Christ, we submit to His will for us. This means putting aside our ways, and trusting our loving Saviour with our lives. We give ourselves completely to Christ. And, if we are married, we commit our marriages to Him too. 

Therefore, we need to know God’s design for marriage. To glorify God with our marriages, they must align with God’s purposes, not ours. God intends our marriages to be “daily re-enactments of the gospel”. This was Pastor Ian’s exhortation to the 25 couples who attended Wednesday’s marriage retreat. 

Marriage, according to God’s word, is meant to display the truths of the gospel. As husbands and wives who have been redeemed by God’s grace, we have the awesome privilege of portraying Christ’s love for us. When we relate to our spouse with compassionate mercy, sacrificial love and patient grace in our day-to-day interactions, we show that the transforming power of the gospel is at work in our lives. In this way, our lives give concrete expression to the gospel we profess with our lips. 

Marriage involves deep friendship between a husband and wife. God uses this most intimate of human relationships to produce deep character change in us, for His glory. Marriage is one of the ways in which God sanctifies us and grows us in Christ-like character. 

God grows us through good times in our marriages. He also grows us through marital conflict. James 4:1-10 says conflict reveals a deeper war in our hearts. We fight with each other because we are not getting what we want. Conflict also shows that we have also turned away from God to serve our idolatrous desires. So tackling conflict starts with humble self-examination. 

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The good news for us is that God gives more grace (Jas. 4:6). God graciously helps us to see our sin. He enables us to humble ourselves, to submit and draw near to him. In this way, God grows us in Christ-likeness through conflict. Therefore we don’t have to be disheartened by conflict. Rather we can trust that God is able to work all things out for our good and His glory, even when we face difficulties in our marriages. 

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The retreat gave couples an opportunity to be refreshed together in God’s word and to reflect on God’s work in their relationship with each other. I am thankful these couples took time on a public holiday to gather and encourage one another. All of us are also especially grateful for those who provided childcare, which freed up the parents to attend the retreat. Their sacrificial service of others in the body of Christ is so encouraging! 

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I pray our marriages will be increasingly shaped by the gospel of our Lord Jesus. May we display His love and grace in our relationships, so that the beauty of Christ’s person and work become more evident in our life together! 

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This Sunday, we will hear from Romans 6:15-23 about how God has graciously freed us from sin to serve Him in righteousness. We will also be celebrating the Lord’s Supper with one another. Do pray for God to prepare our hearts to hear His word, as well as to eat and drink together in Christ-honouring love and unity 

In addition, there will be a Q&A session with Pastor Ian at 11am, in view of his upcoming re-election on May 12. See you all on Sunday!