Marriage Series - Keep Your Wedding Vows Part 2

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

In our last episode, we examined the vows that a married couple makes to each other at their wedding ceremony. I believe that making these vows, in the hearing of witnesses, is the one essential element of a wedding ceremony. Listen to wedding vows again.

“Do you receive this woman as your lawfully wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health; for richer and for poorer, forsaking all others, and keep yourself only to her, so long as you both shall live?”

It is essential for a bride and a groom to respond to these questions with the words “I do.” Because the essence of marriage is contained in these two questions.  Marriage is God’s plan. He ordained marriage when he created human beings. Marriage is holy and good because God ordained it.  Marriage is based on self-sacrificing love, the kind of love Jesus demonstrated when he went to the cross to save you and me. Marriage means that I sacrifice myself for the good of another: to comfort her when she is hurting, to honor her before her friends, family and even her enemies, to keep her, regardless of illness or economic hardship. Marriage, as designed by our Creator, is exclusive. One man, one woman, until death parts them.

And so I rejoice in these vows. They are a blessing. Wedding vows bless married couples from the day of their wedding until they are parted by death. How? How do wedding vows bless us?  

Wedding vows are a reminder. I remember when I was standing at the admitting desk of the emergency department of a large hospital far from my home. My wife Gail had just suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on the left side of her body. Should not speak. Though she was awake, she seemed to be sleeping.  I was scared.  The only prayer I could pray was “Lord, don’t let her die.” I was so scared I couldn’t think of praying for anything else.  Gail had never suffered any serious health problems before that day in 1999.  But that day I knew things would be different. We got her into a hospital room and the doctors and nurses were caring for her. Later, in a quiet moment, I remembered my wedding vows, “in sickness and in health.” I quietly said these words to God, “Well Lord, I guess this is what I meant when I said, “in sickness and in health.”  

In that moment, the memory of my wedding vows helped me stay strong for Gail.  They reminded me to love her and keep her.  They taught me that my vow was not just a vow for as long as things were easy. My vow was for all times, both hard and easy.  And since I had made those vows before God and many witnesses, I prayed with faith. I asked God to help me be true to my vows. I asked him to help me love her and care for her in her weakness and in her struggle to walk and talk and move and carry on with life. And He did. God gave me strength to love my wife and he used my wedding vows to strengthen me.  Brothers and sisters, remember your wedding vows today. Take strength from the Lord to live them out today, no matter what challenge or difficulty you are facing.  These vows bring blessings to you and your mate. They bless your children and your children’s children. So, keep your wedding vows and be a blessing today.

 

This has been “Multiply.” And I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

 

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #InSicknessAndInHealth