Where are our foundations set?
I am reaching that stage in life where one after another, more and more close friends are all planning to get married. It's a privilege to be able to attend my friend's weddings, being able to witness a fabulous start in their next stages in life. It takes quite a lot of commitment and effort in order to move on to next stage in life.
For the past 20 odd years of your lives, you would have somehow been the dependent of the family. All the needs are mostly taken care of. Moving on to some bit of freedom for some who had the luxury to move out to live on their own, you reach that stage in life where you will have to leave your "previous life" and to start living a life together as one body with you other chosen half and start a family of your own! There must tremendous trust and faith required to make a marriage work, but I guess the most important of it all, is that there should be a solid foundation on which the relationship should be built on!
I guess the first knee-jerk reaction of giving an answer to solid foundation is that you must love one another. But in a world today, where society cannot even provide us what "love" involves, providing such an answer really does not provide us much basis until we start having a look at what love really should mean.
But in the most recent wedding that I have attended, the MC at the wedding asked the groom what he liked about the bride that started the relationship. Without hesitation, he answered, amongst other things, that because they both liked to eat, that was the thing in common. They loved eating so much that almost 70% of the photo slide show was them eating! They thought they have the wedding in October so on each and every anniversary, there would be the Sydney Good Food Month to celebrate with.
On another occasion, the couple was creative enough to have a typed up blurb of their life on fancy looking paper on every guest's table. It outlined what they respectively studied, what their presence were in their respective families, how they met, and upon finally confirming that they have made the right choice in being together, the bride accepts the marriage after the groom took out an expensive branded ring! The 'blurb' ended there so I never ended working out whether that was the "foundation" of their relationship.
I am not saying that my friends don't love each other and they have to rely on either Good Food or expensive rings to fuel their relationships in the long run, but I guess you would appreciate that it is very crucial where you should tie a relationship to, in order to have a sustainable relationship in the long run. It makes it really hard to build on what you currently have if you decide setting foundations on things that are susceptible to change. You don't need to be a engineer to understand the importance of strong solid foundation for large constructions to stand over a long period of time.
The foundation of marriage, like any part of our lives, requires us to set ourselves in a solid foundation in order for us to live a purposeful life. In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus tells us:
Jesus promises us that if we listen to his words and follows him, he will provide us the solid foundation to build our lives upon, whether it be marriage or any other part of our lives. God loves us and has made a promise that if we set our foundations in life on him, we will not fall into pieces and be in ruins.
Are you willing to accept this promise and set your foundation in him today?
For the past 20 odd years of your lives, you would have somehow been the dependent of the family. All the needs are mostly taken care of. Moving on to some bit of freedom for some who had the luxury to move out to live on their own, you reach that stage in life where you will have to leave your "previous life" and to start living a life together as one body with you other chosen half and start a family of your own! There must tremendous trust and faith required to make a marriage work, but I guess the most important of it all, is that there should be a solid foundation on which the relationship should be built on!
I guess the first knee-jerk reaction of giving an answer to solid foundation is that you must love one another. But in a world today, where society cannot even provide us what "love" involves, providing such an answer really does not provide us much basis until we start having a look at what love really should mean.
But in the most recent wedding that I have attended, the MC at the wedding asked the groom what he liked about the bride that started the relationship. Without hesitation, he answered, amongst other things, that because they both liked to eat, that was the thing in common. They loved eating so much that almost 70% of the photo slide show was them eating! They thought they have the wedding in October so on each and every anniversary, there would be the Sydney Good Food Month to celebrate with.
On another occasion, the couple was creative enough to have a typed up blurb of their life on fancy looking paper on every guest's table. It outlined what they respectively studied, what their presence were in their respective families, how they met, and upon finally confirming that they have made the right choice in being together, the bride accepts the marriage after the groom took out an expensive branded ring! The 'blurb' ended there so I never ended working out whether that was the "foundation" of their relationship.
I am not saying that my friends don't love each other and they have to rely on either Good Food or expensive rings to fuel their relationships in the long run, but I guess you would appreciate that it is very crucial where you should tie a relationship to, in order to have a sustainable relationship in the long run. It makes it really hard to build on what you currently have if you decide setting foundations on things that are susceptible to change. You don't need to be a engineer to understand the importance of strong solid foundation for large constructions to stand over a long period of time.
The foundation of marriage, like any part of our lives, requires us to set ourselves in a solid foundation in order for us to live a purposeful life. In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus tells us:
46"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? 47Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
Jesus promises us that if we listen to his words and follows him, he will provide us the solid foundation to build our lives upon, whether it be marriage or any other part of our lives. God loves us and has made a promise that if we set our foundations in life on him, we will not fall into pieces and be in ruins.
Are you willing to accept this promise and set your foundation in him today?
