Binding {and 3-fold cords....}

Today, I need to finish off the loose ends for school starting back tomorrow. My main job of the day is binding.  I love my comb binder, and it keeps my pages, that once would have been loose, together in one place.

It got me thinking about marriage and love.

My binder?

Yup.

I know it's not exactly the same principle, but hear me out.  My comb binder keeps something together, that otherwise would not hold itself together.  It needs the extra strength and binding of that comb, in order to keep it together. It is all intertwined, which gives it extra durability.

The verse in Ecclesiastes 4 is what came to my mind.

"a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

This verse follows on from another 2, that talk about the value of "two being better than one".

It's a general principle,talking about the importance of team work, and that an isolated and lonely life is not such a good one,  but I think it can specifically be applied to marriage.

Marriage should be beneficial, because we help each other.  Marriage should be about mutual comfort and support.

The thing is, there is an important third element, and I think that the reason why many Christian marriages are failing and struggling, is that it is missing.

When we think of that 3-fold cord, we consider it as a  husband, wife and GOD.  

God NEEDS to be the centre of our marriages.  He needs to be the one who will bind us together, and make our love strong.  It is HIS wisdom, HIS word, and HIS ways, that need to be entwined in our marriage, for it to grow strong and STAY strong. 

I think many marriages don't even BEGIN this way, as they should. They are built solely on the fact that they are both "saved", but it needs to go far deeper than that. Each part of the union needs to be in a strong relationship with the Lord, and then they need to weave that together, as a couple, to make them strong as ONE. 

When the marriage doesn't even begin like that, it doesn't bode well for later on down the line. Spending time together reading God's Word, learning about how God views our roles as men and women, husbands and wives, and praying together that God would strengthen and unite us spiritually above all else, should be vital in our marriages.

Sometimes it may be that our marriages BEGIN like that, but things start to unravel. Usually, it's because one of the "cords" is not as tightly wound together with the Lord as they were. We each need to make sure that we are still walking with Him as we ought to be.  Still doing our part, even if our husband is not doing his.  If one keeps holding on, they can pull the other tighter - whether by speaking to them directly, or just being a godly example to the other.  We NEED to keep holding on together, because our marriages are a covenant promise to God, and we can't just pull away because things are not as perfect as we hoped, or even because they are far from desirable at ALL.  We promised, before God, "until death us do part".  With God still in that cord, He can hold everything together. You will not be so strong, whilst one part of the cord is "Loose", but it will still be together, nonetheless.

I certainly know that the times when I have struggled most in my marriage. are when I have not been walking with the Lord as I should have been, and I was not seeking and following after God's ways in my marriage.   It was only when I (and probably Robert, too, but I try and focus on myself more!) put God's ways first, that those cords became tighter again, and our marriage grew stronger. 

The thought of my binder today has been a reminder that I need to keep my marriage strong. That I need to keep striving to improve in my walk with God, and in my role as a wife and mother, to help KEEP things strong. To spend time talking about the things of the Lord, discussing things that need to be worked on, and praying about them together. Having a heart and mind that is at one, and goals and aspirations that are united, through Christ.

Not one of us can become complacent.  The devil is always lurking around, trying his best to pick apart that cord - to loosen the strands, and even to cut right through them all. We can't let him get a foot hold - we need to keep our focus on the Lord, and have him bind us together.

The best binding agent, in it all?

Love.

I am going to read I Corinthians 13 again today, and put my name in there - remembering that I need to love in all those ways, to keep my marriage strong. 

Praying that you all have a week blessed by God, and that those of you who are married will strive to keep those cords pulled tightly.