Quotes about Relationship
The confession of the testimony of the Spirit was not intended to give a rational and theoretical solution or explanation to the relationship between Word and Spirit ... the mystery of Word and Spirit remains unfathomable ... Every attempt to somehow clarify the mystery remains revealingly unsatisfactory ... The mystery cuts across every exclusive formulation.
- GC Berkouwer
Long-term marital intimacy requires accepting this truth: to stop giving yourself to your spouse is to spiritually divorce them.
- Gary Thomas
If there is one thing young engaged couples need to hear, it's that a good marriage is not something you find; it's something you work for. It takes struggle. You must crucify your selfishness. You must at times confront and at other times confess. The practice of forgiveness is essential. This is undeniably hard work. But eventually it pays off. Eventually, it creates a relationship of beauty, trust, and mutual support.
- Gary Thomas
I'm going to ask you to do something that may feel even more painful: when you get close to becoming engaged, put any public announcement on delay for a few weeks and spend several sessions talking through all these issues again with someone else present.
- Gary Thomas
we can use marriage for the same purpose—to grow in our service, obedience, character, pursuit, and love of God.
- Gary Thomas
The sad reality is that when we get married for trivial reasons, we will seek divorce for trivial reasons. We need something much more lasting on which to base a lifelong commitment—one that even has eternal implications.
- Gary Thomas
Such individuals marry on an infatuation binge without seriously considering character, compatibility, life goals, family desires, spiritual health, and other important concerns. Then when the infatuation fades and the relationship requires work, one or both partners suddenly discover that they were "mistaken." This person must not be their soul mate after all; otherwise, it wouldn't be so much work.
- Gary Thomas
The warning behind this reality is that if we make too much of marriage, we make too little of our relationship with God. And when we make too little of our relationship with God, we undercut our source of love, which makes success in marriage less likely. Focusing on marriage too much is, ironically enough, the best way to kill it. Men
- Gary Thomas
View marriage as an entryway into sanctification — as a relationship that will reveal your sinful behaviors and attitudes and give you the opportunity to address them before the Lord. But here's the challenge: Don't give in to the temptation to resent your partner as your own weaknesses are revealed. Don't run from what you are hearing about yourself, or push your spouse away because of it — accept it and use it to grow.
- Gary Thomas
Does your Christian (partner) pray? ... if not, you'll walk through life without the person who knows you most lifting you up in prayerful support. You'll be the only one supporting your kids in prayer. You'll be married to someone who isn't opening themselves up to gods conviction encouragement and support.
- Gary Thomas
It's sort of like signing a mortgage or buying a business while drunk. You need to "dry out" a bit and think this thing through before you commit the rest of your life to someone you can't objectively evaluate
- Gary Thomas
No husband comes in a perfect package. No husband can do it all. Your job as a wife is to fight to stay sensitive to your husband's strengths. Resist the temptation to compare his weaknesses to another husband's strengths, while forgetting your husband's strengths and that other husband's weaknesses.
- Gary Thomas