Results tagged “marriage”
False Messages III: Desiring Him (11/11/09 - 18 Comments)
This is now the third (and final!) entry in this short series written by my wife, Aileen. In the last article she talked about rejection and how it effects both wives and husbands. The day before that she dealt with sexual desire, pointing out some of the differences between men and women. Today the series concludes. One thing I want to say. In this series she has been dealing predominantly with "average" marriages. It is...
Sexual Detox IV: Detoxification (10/29/09 - 17 Comments)
Note (11/08/09) - This complete series is now available for free download. Click here to learn more. This is now the fourth entry in a series of articles about sex and, in particular, about sexual detoxification--about replacing lies with truth. First I wrote about Pornifying the Marriage Bed, then about Breaking Free and finally about A Theology of Sex. Today the series continues with Detoxification. The purpose of this series of articles is to lead...
Counseling Myself (08/17/09 - 17 Comments)
Just about a week ago Aileen and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary. The Lord has been kind to us and, though in many ways we feel like we're just getting started, at the same time we can look back on an ever-lengthening legacy of God's faithfulness to us. Last week I paused a few times to think about the last eleven years and began to wonder what I would say if I could go...
Book Reviews - This Momentary Marriage & Velvet Steel (05/18/09 - 13 Comments)
John Piper waited forty years to write a book on marriage. It is only after forty years of marriage that he felt like he would have something valuable to say (or something valuable to add to a very crowded genre of book). "Romance, sex, and childbearing are temporary gifts of God. They are not part of the next life. And they are not guaranteed even for this life. They are one possible path through the...
Freedom Comes (02/02/09 - 11 Comments)
At my church last night I preached a message that was part of a series we are doing on various points of theology. The topic I had to address was biblical manhood and womanhood. It's something of an uncomfortable topic to have to preach and one we, as Christians, are too often intimidated by. I sought in this message to emphasize the freedom and the delight in God that come to us when we understand...
The Christian Lover (01/23/09 - 12 Comments)
Marriage is under attack in our day; there is little doubt about it. We need only look to the divorce rates among professed Christians to see that believers have been far from immune from the spirit of this age. In his new book The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers, Michael Haykin says that "reading expressions of love from the past can be a helpful way of responding...
What It May Cost (01/18/09 - 13 Comments)
Yesterday I was reading Michael Haykin's new book The Christian Lover (review coming soon) which is a compilation of Christian love letters. Well, all but one. This is a remarkable letter sent from Adoniram Judson to John Hasseltine, the father of Ann, the woman he wished to marry. In this letter he asks John for Ann's hand, but, as he intends to head to Burma to serve as a missionary, he is forthright in his...
Talk: Secrets in Marriage (09/03/08 - 67 Comments)
Admiral Lord Nelson once said, "Every sailor is a bachelor when beyond Gibraltar." They are profound words and ones well worth thinking about, and especially so in our modern context. I've written in the past about issues related to accountability and anonymity. Lately, though, I've been thinking a bit about these issues in a way strikes a little closer to home. I recently had a discussion with a friend who was asking if I think...
Who Do You Love More? (08/20/08 - 79 Comments)
I made my children cry. A short time ago my son and daughter came to me and Abby, representing both of them, I suppose, asked the kind of question little girls ask. It was a question they must have been thinking, or perhaps arguing, about. “Daddy, who do you love more, Mommy or us?” I thought for just a moment and told them the truth. They cried. The fact is, I love their mother more...
Tomorrow, Today, Yesterday (08/13/08 - 9 Comments)
Last Saturday Aileen and I watched as some friends of ours were married. First was a beautiful ceremony at a historic Baptist church in the heart of the city and this was followed by a lengthy, enjoyable reception at a nearby reception hall. We enjoyed ourselves a lot and rejoice with our friends, praying for God’s blessing on their new marriage. As I was sitting in the church and as I sat at the reception,...
A Wedding Day (08/09/08 - 2 Comments)
Yesterday Aileen and I celebrated our tenth anniversary; today we have the privilege of enjoying the wedding of some good friends. We are thrilled for them and are looking forward to spending the day with them and with their friends and family. I thought about weddings this morning and was reminded of my cousin’s wedding I went to last year. It was a beautiful, classy, simple wedding. While the service was great from beginning to...
A Biblical Guide to Love, Sex and Marriage (07/12/08 - 4 Comments)
Though it has been thousands of years since it was written, and though countless people have made valiant attempts to decipher it, it seems as though we are no closer than ever to reaching a consensus regarding the Song of Solomon. Should it be read literally, as a poem that deals with love and sex? Or is this only a superficial meaning beneath which we will find a whole world of allegorical meaning pointing us...
A Wedding Contract (10/01/07 - 10 Comments)
Last week I went to Ottawa to enjoy my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful, classy, simple wedding. While the service was great from beginning to end, I particularly enjoyed the brief sermon which drew a startling contrast between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God; between the love of the world and the love of God. The pastor began by discussing a marriage contract drawn up by Albert Einstein. With his...
Seeking Correction (08/09/07 - 17 Comments)
The value of inviting and pursuing correction. A couple of days ago I wrote a short article called Her Good or Mine. The purpose of the article was simple: to ask whether I really try to help my wife seek after godliness or whether instead I try to help her seek after my own selfish goals. Do I try to help her become ever more conformed to the image of Christ or do I selfishly...
My Best Friend's Wedding (08/08/07 - 24 Comments)
Nine years ago, on this very day, my best friend got married. It was one of the first weddings I had ever been to and I remember it well. It was a beautiful wedding, I thought, exactly the kind I might have planned. It was simple but dignified, homespun but not cheap. The mother of the bride had not only arranged all of the arrangements and bouquets, but had even grown the flowers, having planned...
Her Good or Mine? (08/06/07 - 44 Comments)
Asking myself why I want her to change... I have been thinking about this subject for a while now. I've even tried to write about it once or twice with decidedly poor results, causing me to give up and put it aside for another day. I'm going to give it another shot today and hope it works out better. It was probably a month ago, or sometime around then, that I found myself faced with...