My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for two and a half years. As a Christian couple, we try to honor God with our relationship, but sometimes we have struggled to know exactly how to go about honoring the Lord. We aren't perfect, we don't always treat each other how God commands us to, but we try to. I am also going to touch on what God wants his followers to find in their significant other.
To be cliché I am going to start with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It is a verse that many people have heard before at weddings, and its popularity can sometimes make people over look the power of it. The verse reads: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... This verse spells out how to have a successful relationship, with anyone, not just a husband or a wife. I can't say that I am ALWAYS patient, kind, trusting, protective, or hopeful. Nor can I honestly claim that I am NEVER rude, self-seeking, easily angered, or keeping a record of wrongs. I am not perfect. No one is, except Jesus. But I can say that when it comes to love, and the man I believe I was put on the earth to be with, I will always persevere, and I will never fail. I look at this passage as a model for how I should strive to be in all of my relationships, but especially with my boyfriend.
God wants us to live our lives with a partner (Genesis 2:18, 21-22), and He wants us to love them how He loves us (Ephesians 5:22-25). Genesis 2:18, 21-22 tells us The Lord God said, " It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him....So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. In Ephesians 5:22-25 we are told: Wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. I am a very strong willed and stubborn woman, and I think my boyfriend would agree, so I found some difficulty with the line that reads, "Wives, submit to your husbands..." But as I read on, I began to see why it is important and relax. If I think about how Jesus loves his followers (aka church), I know that He would never take advantage of their obedience. God loves us more than we will ever be able to fully comprehend. He wouldn't use our submission to him to hurt us or put us in situations that would end in bad circumstances. If a husband loves his wife as Christ loves his church, there should be no worry about submitting to him.
I realize that I am not married, but in my relationship I look to my boyfriend for spiritual guidance and one day he will be the spiritual leader of our family. That doesn't mean that women are stupid or can't also help their men along. Everyone goes through times in their lives when they need a spiritual "jump start" where the other person helps to get them back on track with their walk with Christ. In the two and a half years of my relationship we have each needed one. A relationship is a pair for a reason, If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:10
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