{"id":7467,"date":"2022-02-14T13:44:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T19:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=7467"},"modified":"2022-02-14T13:44:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T19:44:16","slug":"thoughts-from-the-bible-53","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=7467","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>How To Be Happily Married<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>by Terry Broome<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Someone has said, \u201cWe can either \u2018curse the darkness\u2019 or \u2018shed some light.\u2019\u201d Marriage in America is in trouble! Not only is divorce skyrocketing, but the home as a God-designed institution is under attack. From the halls of secular schools \u2013 to the halls of congress \u2013 to the howls of the feminist movement, the obituary of traditional marriage is being prepared and propagated. If the humanists, abortionists, feminists, and gay rights advocates have their way about it, the Bible definition of what makes a home will be lost forever to mankind.<!--more--><br \/>\nThe current trend of trial marriages, and no-fault divorces may be partly attributed to a vast number of marriages where \u201choly wedlock\u201d has become \u201cunholy deadlock.\u201d Too often a marriage becomes like railroad tracks. They run side-by-side, but never touch, never share, are not united. There\u2019s no oneness as described in Gen 2:23-25. My expectations may not match hers, or hers may not match mine. Remember, rubber bends, but rigid glass breaks.<\/p>\n<p>A popular book reflects this problem in the title, \u201cHow To Be Happy, Though Married.\u201d We have altered that phrase for our thought today to read \u201cHow To Be Happily Married,\u201d because we should not seem surprised at all to find that when people will yield to God\u2019s instructions, there can be such a thing as marital bliss. We believe in God\u2019s design for marriage. We believe that marital misery and missed bliss are tools of the devil which destroy far too many otherwise successful lives. It is so important that we caution our children to set high standards, and choose companions carefully. A rule of thumb that I\u2019ve believed in since I was 18 years old is to choose someone who will help you go to heaven.<br \/>\nConsider these suggestions of qualities that help prepare one to be a good companion:<\/p>\n<p>Character: Psalms 24:3-5 \u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessings from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.\u201d<br \/>\nSelf-Mastery: Our goal in life to become finer people, and spiritually mature will come through self-mastery. Paul knew the discipline and learned to \u201cbuffet his body\u201d (I Corinthians 9:27)<br \/>\nPurity \u2013 Psalms 24: 3-5 (above)<\/p>\n<p>Honesty \u2013 Eph. 4:25 \u201cWherefore putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Men of character will not indulge in stealing, lying, and cheating that is typical of dishonesty!\u201d<br \/>\nDependability \u2013 1 Cor. 4:2 \u201cIt is required of a steward that a man be found faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fairness or Justice: Eph. 6:4 \u201cProvoke not children to wrath&#8230;.\u201d 1 Pet 3:7 \u201clive considerately with\u201d your wife.<br \/>\nUnselfishness \u2013 the willingness to give up one\u2019s own comfort or advantage for the benefit of someone else.<br \/>\nMoral Courage \u2013 The courage to do what is right regardless of the consequences.<br \/>\nMeekness \u2013 Matt. 5:5 That mellowing quality that blends all the strength and humility into a Christian life.<\/p>\n<p>The author can be reached for comments at 256-574-2489.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How To Be Happily Married by Terry Broome Someone has said, \u201cWe can either \u2018curse the darkness\u2019 or \u2018shed some light.\u2019\u201d Marriage in America is in trouble! Not only is divorce skyrocketing, but the home as a God-designed institution is under attack. From the halls of secular schools \u2013 to the halls of congress \u2013 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7468,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7467\/revisions\/7468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}