The Glory Of Self-Sacrifice In Marriage

By Bryan Chapell

"Access to the deeper dimensions of the Bible’s instruction requires no secret codes, special revelations, or privileged insights. Minds and hearts open to the core message of Scripture recognize that God neither commends nor commands selfishness. When the ruler of the universe in the person of Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross to rescue us from the consequences of our own sin, he taught us the glory of sacrifice. Jesus said, 'Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it' (Matt. 10:39). Lives devoted merely to serving self cannot avoid making one’s own desires the goal and god of every action. Such whimsical gods ultimately enslave people to their own appetites.

God designed us to know life’s greatest fulfillment through losing ourselves in the service of purposes higher than self-satisfaction. When a marriage is built on the premise that one person may find happiness by using another, the deepest passions God has placed in hearts in which his Spirit lives are ignored. Jesus said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be… the servant of all' (Mark 9:35), and he did not add a footnote saying, 'except in your home.' We discover the happiness God intends for our lives only when we use for the good of another the strengths, resources, and privileges God has given us. By exercising the kind of sacrificial love Christ exhibited, we begin to understand the nature of God’s care." (10-11)

Copied from Each For The Other: Marriage As It's Meant To Be by Bryan Chapell, copyright 2000. Baker Book House - www.bakerbooks.com. All rights reserved.