Sacred Marriage

Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
Zondervan  ISBN: 0310242827

The Book’s Message

This is not another “how to build a better marriage” book. Rather, it is a book on how the struggles and challenges of marriage can shape us and change us in profoundly spiritual ways.

Marriage is even more than a sacred covenant.

If our hearts are attuned to what God is teaching us, our marriage relationship can help us learn sacrificial love, forgiveness, servanthood, and perseverance.

Marriage is a sacred tool that helps us grow spiritually in ways nothing else can.

“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

“Romantic love has no elasticity to it. It can never be stretched; it simply shatters. Mature love, the kind demanded of a good marriage, must stretch.”

“We have to realise that human love and divine love aren’t two separate oceans but rather one body of water with many tributaries. We show our love for God in part by loving our spouses well.”

“Marriage virtually forces us into the intense act of reconciliation … Jesus makes it absolutely clear that you must choose unity if you want to maintain a vital prayer relationship with God.”

“To stop moving toward our spouse is to stop loving him or her. It’s holding back from the very purpose of marriage. The opposite of biblical love isn’t hate, it’s apathy.”

“Forgiveness is achingly difficult, and long after you’ve forgiven, the wound … lives on in memory. Forgiveness is an unnatural act … [It’s] blatantly unfair…”

“We allow marriage to point beyond itself when we accept two central missions: becoming the people God created us to be, and doing the work God has given us to do. If we embrace … these two missions, we will have a full life, a rich life, a meaningful life, and a successful life. The irony is, we will probably also have a happy marriage, but that will come as a blessed by-product of putting everything else in order.”