THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Loving the Stranger (Part 2) THE MEANING - PDF document

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Loving the Stranger (Part 2) THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Currencies of Love “All forms of love are necessary, and none are to be ignored, but all of us find some forms of love to be more emotionally valuable to us.” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 1

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Currencies of Love “Anyone who wants to give you love needs to know what those forms are and to express his or her love in those ways. We should do this for our spouses because God did this for us.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE 5 Love Languages Brainstorming • Chapm Chapman’s 5 s 5 Love Love • Work together at your tables Lan Languages: s: to brainstorm specific examples of each Love • Words of Affirmation Language. • Quality Time • These examples can be • Receiving Gifts lighthearted, serious, or • Acts of Service personal examples! • Physical Touch • Write the examples on the sheets provided! Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 2

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Transitioning from In Love to Love “…most marriages start with an in-love ‘high’ during which time both partners feel profoundly loved by the very presence of the other. But eventually that high wears off and then love must become a deliberate choice.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Transitioning from In Love to Love “It will seem mechanical at first… but if both spouses do it together, eventually the experience of being loved richly and well will sweeten their lives.” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 3

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Truly Wed The Truly Wed Game! Game! THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Affection PLAYFULNESS PLAYFULNESS EYE CONTACT EYE CONTACT CARESSES CARESSES GI GIFTS FTS SI SITTIN TTING CLOSE CLOSE HOLD HOLDING HANDS HANDS GETTI GETTING NG RI RID OF D OF DISTRAC DI STRACTIO IONS PHYSICAL PHYSICAL APPEARAN APPEARANCE Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 4

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Friendship QUALITY QUALITY SHOW SHOW SUPPORT SUPPORT TI TIME MAKE T MAKE TIME ME TOG TOGETH THER A ER A LOY LOYALT LTY PRI PRIORITY! RITY! SHOW SHOW I INTERE TEREST ST SHOW P PRID IDE IN IN IN SPOUSE SPOUSE SPOUSE SPOUSE OPEN UP TO OPEN UP TO YOUR SPOUSE YOUR SPOUSE LISTEN LIST THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Service SHOW SHOW PRACTICAL PRACTICAL APPRECIATION APPRECI TION TASKS TASKS BE WILLING BE WI LLING TO TO PRAY FOR PRAY FOR SHOW SPOUSE SHOW SPOUSE CHANGE CHANGE SPOUSE SPOUSE RESPECT RESPEC COMM COMMITTED TO TTED TO STAND UP STAN D UP FOR FOR SPOUSE SPOUSE’S W ’S WELL LL BEI BEING SPOUSE SPOUSE Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 5

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Love Currency & Love Languages • Look back at your “Love Language” ideas. • Highlight ideas that express AFFECTI FFECTION green • Highlight ideas that express FRIE FRIENDSHIP IP blue • Highlight ideas that express SERVICE RVICE orange THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Great Problem “Your spouse’s opinion of you can be a terrible weapon.” “The one person in the whole world who holds your heart in her hand, whose approval and affirmation you most long for and need, is the one who is hurt more deeply by your sins than anyone else on the planet.” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 6

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Great Problem “Truth and love need to be kept together, but it is very hard. When we are hurt, we use the power of truth without love. The fury and pain of such encounters can lead to the mistake of trying to just love without telling the truth, though in the end this does not lead to anyone feeling loved at all.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Great Problem “We need to feel so loved by our partners that when they criticize us, we have the security to admit our own faults. Then we can come to know and face who we are and grow.” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 7

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Power of Grace—Reconciling “Truth without love ruins the oneness, and love without truth gives the illusion of unity but actually stops the journey and the growth. The solution is grace. The experience of Jesus’s grace makes it possible to practice the two most important skills in marriage: forgiveness and repentance. Only if we are very good at forgiving and very good at repenting can truth and love be kept together.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Power of Grace—Reconciling “The Bible says we are supposed to forgive people and then go and confront them? Yes! The reason we are surprised by this is almost always because we confront people who have wronged us as a way of paying them back .” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 8

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Power of Grace—Reconciling “One of the most basic skills in marriage is the ability to tell the straight, unvarnished truth about what your spouse has done— and then, completely, unself-righteously, and joyously express forgiveness without a shred of superiority without making the other person feel small.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Power of Grace—Reconciling “If you see Jesus dying on the cross for others, forgiving the people who killed him, that can be just a crushing example of forgiving love that you will never be able to live up to. But if instead you see Jesus dying on the cross for you , forgiving you, putting away your sin, that changes everything. He saw your heart to the bottom but loved you to the skies. And the joy and freedom that comes from knowing that the Son of God did that for you enables you to do the same for your spouse. It gives you both the emotional humility and wealth to exercise the power of grace.” Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 9

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE The Ultimate Power “Here is why you can say to your spouse who has wronged you, “I see your sin, but I can cover it with forgiveness, because Jesus saw my sin and covered it.” It is because the Lord of the universe came into the world in disguise, in the person of Jesus Christ, and he looked into our hearts and saw the worst. And it wasn’t an abstract exercise for Jesus— our sins put him to death. When Jesus was up there, nailed to the cross, he looked down and saw us, some denying him, some betraying him, and all forsaking him. He saw our sin and covered it.” THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 10

Meaning of Marriage 4/9/2017 5b. Loving the Stranger WE’LL MEET AGAIN AFTER EASTER! Embracing the Other (Part 1) Grace Lutheran Church Winter Haven, FL 11