Many people fail to realize that how you live your life as a Christian is important to God. Sure, they understand what a Christian looks like from a cultural stand point but what about what a Christian looks like interpersonally and intrapersonally. As someone who is concerned about other Christians becoming Christlike, I have grown frustrated with the idea that many Christian have about discipleship and becoming Christlike – that it is optional.
Marriage is an area of life where being Christlike is not optional; it is essential. My wife and I attended a marriage conference this past weekend and the speakers put more emphasis on strengthening your relationship with God than they did strengthening your relationship with your spouse. Also, they spoke about irritability, the thought life, honesty, forgiveness, and loving difficult people. No one at the conference thought these aspects were just side items to their life or nice add-ons to their faith. No, we all recognized how important it is for our marriages to be Christlike and possess a heart transformed by Christ.
If our hearts don’t change to reflect more of Christ than our marriages will suffer. In the same way, if our hearts do not reflect more of Christ than our entire life will suffer. Our job will be a struggle, our relationships will never grow into something meaningful and rewarding, and we will never find effective ways to share God with others. Perhaps marriage is the perfect springboard for helping us recognize how much we need Christ in our lives and we need him to transform us into the new creations we are called to be.
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