Your Bible & You - Little Book Open.org

YOUR BIBLE AND YOU
M a r r i a g e C a n B e H a p p y
influence will ever beget suspicions or insert the first wedge of doubt.
This way lies happiness.
3. Settle Misunderstandings at Once. Two persons of different background
and upbringing, sometimes of different nationality and language,
are bound to have misunderstandings. It would be unrealistic
to expect otherwise. These are part of the adjustment that marriage
entails. But they should never be allowed to develop into long drawnout
quarrels. Your Bible suggests that they should be settled on the
same day they arise-before nightfall. “Do not let the sun go down
on your anger,” counsels the apostle Paul (Ephesians 4:26, RSV), and his
advice is particularly good for married couples.
Agreement may come only as a result of one party’s backing down
from a position taken in the heat of argument, or saying “I’m sorry”
for an unkind word or ungenerous deed. But it is a rewarding attitude
to take, infinitely preferable to letting the misunderstanding
fester until it bursts into open enmity. The costliness of petty grievances
cherished and unresolved is beyond calculation. Every highway
to a divorce court is strewn with the resulting wreckage.
At the onset of any quarrel read these temper-cooling words: “I…
beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been
called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one
another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace” (verses 1-3).
This way lies happiness.
4. Let Love Prevail. This is the solution for most difficulties. “Above all
hold unfailing your love for one another,” wrote the apostle Peter,
“since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8, RSV).
Never let love die out. Keep it alive whatever may have been said
or done. Keep it “unfailing” and, sooner or later, it will cover all sins.
The hurts will be healed, the mistakes will be forgotten, the impatience
and unkindness will be forgiven.
Given a chance, love will prevail-always.
This was the burden of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing
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