I will continue the thought of "An Honorable Marriage" by once again giving you the text verse from God's word. The Bible states in Romans 12:10 that we are to "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor pre-ferring one another". If God gives us a command to honor other believers how much more should you and I honor our marriage partner? You will recall that I gave you three main points found in this lesson: (1) The Meaning Of An Honor-able Marriage, (2) The Characteristics of A Dishonorable Marriage, and (3) The Qualities Of An Honorable Marriage. Today I will focus on the second thought of this lesson: The Characteristics Of A Dishonorable Marriage. I will do this by looking at verses found in this Biblical text. (a) A Dishonorable Marriage is fashioned after the world. Romans 12:2 states, "And be not conformed to this world". The word conformed means to the fashioned alike. It denotes union and companionship with the world. The world seeks to influence the home via the Internet, TV, movies, books, and magazines. To many marriages are letting the world shape and mould them rather then allowing God and His Word influence them. The world plays down the importance of marriage, it promotes a casual attitude toward promiscuous sex, it plays down the value of mothers and fathers, and it encourages divorce. When one or both of the partners have a desire for the world, the marriage is in trouble. God said for believers not to be conformed to this world. (b) A Dishonorable Marriage is filled with pride. Romans 12:3 declares that "every man is not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think". Sadly, to many marriages are made up of individuals who look upon themselves as being the most important human in the world. They think that the world, and especially their spouse, only exist to serve them and to make them happy. Their entire focus is on their needs, time, pleasures, hope, and desires. A person's pride could only account for this kind of attitude. Those people have an overly inflated view on their importance. They are selfish and self centered. The text is correct when it says that one should not think to highly of himself. (c) A Dishonorable Marriage is filled with hypocrisy. Romans 12:9 quietly says, "Let love be with-out dissimulation". In others words let love be genuine or real. Not everyone is genuine. Some people are just hypocrites. They are merely acting outwardly something that they are not inwardly. They are one way at Church, in front of family, friends, or neighbors, and another thing entirely at home. They can be friendly and kind in public but in private the can be ill, angry, crude, sarcastic, and sinful. Pity the home that has a hypocritical member. (d) A Dishonorable Marriage is overflowing with evil. Romans 12:9 says, "Abhor that which is evil". Evil is destructive, wicked, and harmful. It corrupts others. It is just sinful be-havior. Evil can be manifested in three ways. 1- Evil Thoughts. Thinking ill-will toward others. A smoldering resentful wrath toward someone. 2- Evil Words. Biting sharp criticisms, angry words spoken in haste, or words that put down or make fun of your mate are just a few examples of evil words. Ephesians 4:29 states, "Let no corrupt communications proceed our of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying". Verse 31 of that same text says, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and clamour and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice". 3- Evil Actions. Engaging in sinful conduct. Doing things you know are wrong and displeasing to God. (e) A Dishonorable Marriage is one that is lazy. Romans 12:11 says, "Not slothful in business". The word "slothful" means to be lazy or to pro-crastinate. Pity the home where one or both partners are lazy. When this takes place the family suffers. Therefore, the house is unkempt or the yard work is not done. The meals are not cooked, the clothes are not washed, the trash is not removed, the beds are unmade, and the cars are not maintained. The time is spent in front of the TV and important task are ignored. One area in which being lazy is extremely costly is the family finances. Failure to guard carefully the money usually results in deep trouble. The individual is simply to lazy to plan a budget, reconcile the bank statement, or make timely payments of monthly bills. These things cause many marriages to be dishonorable at best and dysfunctional at worse. One should do all that they can to see that these traits are not found in their marriage. A quick inventory should be made of your home to see if any of them are present in your house. If so, they should be quickly removed and one should ask God for help in replacing them with good and godly attributes.
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