Love Your Spouse

Perhaps, like me, you have heard the expression, “we just fell out of love,” or I'm not in love with my spouse anymore.”

It's a sad reality that love has been misrepresented even in our Christian marriages. We treat love as a feeling, when love requires action. Practicing the attributes of love ensures that we cannot wake up one day out of love with someone.

According to the Bible in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud and does not dishonor others. Love is not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs. Does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. Love Never Fails!

When someone says they fell “out of love’ they are really saying I stopped being kind, patient and trustworthy to my spouse. If we choose to love; we automatically are bound by the character traits that go along with love.

Start with just one of love’s habits and build from there. For example, keep no records of wrongs. Can you name the exact day and hour that your spouse goofed it up royally? Do you say things like “he always forgets our anniversary until I remind him!” or “she always plans a family gathering on my tee time!” Those are records of wrongs. Loving our spouses means letting go of the things in our minds and hearts that record their shortcomings. Love doesn't mean we ignore habits of neglect or don't address issues we are having. Quite the opposite, a foundation of love means we work together on building a strong love habit.

A mechanism Curtis uses to ensure he does not neglect certain love practices is to set a calendar reminder on his phone. My personal favorite is the alarm at 11:45 a.m. that says “pray for Terri.” That is love in action!

Happy Honeymooning!

1 Corinthians 13:4-9a “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails!”