DAILY E-MAIL SIGN UP
PRINTER FRIENDLY
FONT SIZE 
Author and pastor Tommy Nelson writes, “So often marriage partners start out sizzling with passion and then dissipate into mere roommates. Slowly but surely, communication, caring, affection, sensitivity, intimacy, and spontaneity erode out of the relationship. . . . God has a different desire for marriage. In His plan, the romance continues throughout the marriage. In fact, it grows into a loving and passionate marriage that is even more wonderful in its latter stages than it is in its beginning. A marriage that cools and grows stale is not biblical!”
As Pastor Nelson goes on to say, “worldly wisdom” may make it acceptable for a marriage to fizzle and burn out instead of sizzle with love and romance, but it’s not acceptable to God. His will for marriage is that the love and romance grow sweeter over the years.
Starting today, we’re turning our attention from important issues in marriage to some of the biblical qualities married people need. We could call this a loving, tender--even romantic--spirit toward each other. It’s possible for any marriage partner to develop this spirit because biblically, love is a decision of the will.
We can see the importance of that decision in the context of today’s verses. Maintaining the love and romance in a marriage actually begins with a commitment to be faithful, a deliberate decision to seek sexual and emotional fulfillment within the marriage (vv. 15-16). Husbands and wives who do this are free to lavish attention and passion on each other.
The opposite of being captivated by our spouses is allowing ourselves to be enticed by someone else. The first part of Proverbs 5 deals with this danger (see the September 15 study). The chapter closes with a follow-up warning that, contrary to the way it may seem, marital unfaithfulness is never practiced in private. It is done in full view of God, who will act accordingly.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Ask a random sampling of couples the last time they had a date, and you’ll probably get a range of answers from “Last week” to “Can’t remember.”
| < Previous Day | Next Day > |
