I Corinthians 7:20-40
The married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife… [and] …the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. (vv. 33, 34b) I am constantly amazed (and pleased) as to how Carol works to make life better for me – to see to it that I have the “things” that I enjoy. And, from very early in our relationship I sought the same for her, wanting to do things for her that made her happy – things beyond occasionally buying her flowers! For us it’s just been the natural order of things. But there are disagreements, clashes that arise when each of us has his/her own opinion about one thing or another. But two things have kept us blessedly happy for these 38+ years. First we have agreed not to continue a conversation if either of us is really troubled, frustrated, angry. We’ve agreed to allow each other to walk away for a time and to continue the conversation later when cooler heads might prevail. Second, and most importantly we have both known that each of us must answer to the Lord. In virtually every disagreement we’ve had each of us has brought some negative contribution to the issue and we need to confess that to the Lord and to each other. That part is really hard, but it’s really necessary: …confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)
See also: April 27 / I Cor. 7:17-24; April 28 / I Cor. 7:25-40
I can remember when Barbara and I married 45 years ago. Our pastor met with us to explain the details. His advice was that we should not go to bed angry, and one of us should apologize immediately; to which he added, “and that would be you, Tom.”
It has worked for quite a while…