A Blessed Marriage

Scripture Text: Matthew 5:1-16

In these verses we find the opening statements of Jesus' longest recorded sermon. Through these words we get a glimpse of what it means to live our lives according to the Kingdom of God as opposed to any other kingdom. This section, also called the beatitudes, share with us how to live the kind of life that God blesses.

Just like for the original audience, the teaching confronts the way our world today commonly thinks and acts through life. In fact in almost every instance living according the the Kingdom of God understanding is the opposite of living by other kingdoms. To be blessed we must realize we need God. To be blessed we must mourn with those who mourn. On and on the list goes turning upside down the most commonly taught ways to be blessed in life.

The life Jesus calls us to is filled with blessings, however it is not easy. We are told to expect persecution, strife, and mocking because we follow Jesus. All of this screams to us the way of Jesus is not the same as the dominate culture. Further we can see the danger of attempting to make the way of Jesus into something it is not, the dominate culture. In Christ we live a life not so that we can fit in, or get things the way we think they should be. We live our lives so that through us the world might see God.

As Jesus instructs how to live as people of the Kingdom of God, we should also apply the list to our marriage:

• Our marriage will be blessed when we realize how much we need God, for others shall see the Kingdom of God in us.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we mourn with each other, and others, and God will be our comfort.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we treat each other with humility, for we will inherit all that God desires for us.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we hunger and thirst for for justice for our spouse.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we show mercy to our spouse, for we will experience mercy.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we keep our heart pure for our spouse, for we will experience the fullness of God.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we seek to live in peace with our spouse, for we both will be called children of God.
• Our marriage will be blessed when we are persecuted because of how we live in our marriage, for God is with us.
• Our marriage is blessed when others mock and persecute us because of how we strive to live with Christ as the center of our marriage.

All of this is not for the glorification of our marriage, it is so that others will see God. We strive to live in such a way that we can be blessed by God to be a blessing to others. We live the life we do so that others might know the love and grace of Jesus Christ and decide to follow him either because of, or inspite of our lives.