Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Marriage - Call and Commission
1 Corinthians 13
Devotion: 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 truth. It always protects record of wrongs wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Vs 4-8
Marriage is very clearly part of God’s design and calls for Mankind. God created woman
as a response to what God saw as man’s loneliness in Gen 2:18, though God himself
was coming in the cool of the evening to have fellowship with Adam. When we look at
the Old Testament’s implication of the Call of God , it was intended to help the one
who was called to reach a place of what they are not yet, but fulfilled only when they
pursue the call. So, when we choose to walk into the call of God in marriage, there is a
transformation of who we are, to who we will become because of obeying the call. In
the passage of 1 Corinthians 13, it very clearly defines or explains the qualities of
love. It is not because we possess all these qualities that God calls us into marriage but
because of commitment to the call of marriage and going through the process of
learning to love that we become who God wants us to be. The calling in marriage is to
put on the characteristics of love given in the above passage. We can check how far we
have applied these aspects in our marriage relationship by replacing the word love
with our own names. For E.g., Ciby is kind, Ciby is patient…. etc. Often times, we may
not be able to complete the reading with our names replaced as we will be convicted
soon as to how much we still have to grow in our call to love . Our call and
commission to love as in the passage is only possible when the resource of true love ,
Jesus Christ fills our life through His Spirit. Lets pray that God will fill us with His love
to love our spouse children and others.
Devotion: 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 truth. It always protects record of wrongs wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Vs 4-8
Marriage is very clearly part of God’s design and calls for Mankind. God created woman
as a response to what God saw as man’s loneliness in Gen 2:18, though God himself
was coming in the cool of the evening to have fellowship with Adam. When we look at
the Old Testament’s implication of the Call of God , it was intended to help the one
who was called to reach a place of what they are not yet, but fulfilled only when they
pursue the call. So, when we choose to walk into the call of God in marriage, there is a
transformation of who we are, to who we will become because of obeying the call. In
the passage of 1 Corinthians 13, it very clearly defines or explains the qualities of
love. It is not because we possess all these qualities that God calls us into marriage but
because of commitment to the call of marriage and going through the process of
learning to love that we become who God wants us to be. The calling in marriage is to
put on the characteristics of love given in the above passage. We can check how far we
have applied these aspects in our marriage relationship by replacing the word love
with our own names. For E.g., Ciby is kind, Ciby is patient…. etc. Often times, we may
not be able to complete the reading with our names replaced as we will be convicted
soon as to how much we still have to grow in our call to love . Our call and
commission to love as in the passage is only possible when the resource of true love ,
Jesus Christ fills our life through His Spirit. Lets pray that God will fill us with His love
to love our spouse children and others.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we thank you for your calling and commission to love each other with
the aspects of love as in your Word. So often we have failed to practice love in genuine
ways within our homes. Please forgive us and help us to be able to display your work of
transformation in loving our families and others through our lives. In Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen
Thought for the Day
“Love…is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the
will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the
grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each
other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself
even when you do not like yourself.” C. S. Lewis.
Mrs. Ciby Mathew
Associate Director of Urban India Ministries, Bangalore
Dear Lord, we thank you for your calling and commission to love each other with
the aspects of love as in your Word. So often we have failed to practice love in genuine
ways within our homes. Please forgive us and help us to be able to display your work of
transformation in loving our families and others through our lives. In Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen
Thought for the Day
“Love…is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the
will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the
grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each
other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself
even when you do not like yourself.” C. S. Lewis.
Mrs. Ciby Mathew
Associate Director of Urban India Ministries, Bangalore