The Deep-Rooted Marriage: A 5-Day Reading Planنموونە

Day 4: To Bless Rather Than Curse

Marriage is a feast celebrating the wonder that love wins over hate and a proclamation that death never gets the final word. It is a song that enables us to sing of our divine Beloved who has taken the curse that we might bless each other.

A marriage is a vow spoken to each other and whispered to God, which helps us refuse to curse so we can participate in the blessing of God’s banquet of delight.

This is what he is making available to you in your marriage today.

Will you enter the feast? Will you sing the song?

These are, no doubt, grand, epic concepts—and yet they are livable.

We move toward them through daily choices and intentions.

Assess where you are. How much intentional blessing or unwitting cursing might currently exist in your marriage?

Consider where you want to go. What do you want to be most true about how you live? What vow do you want to shape your future, and how could you take time together to reset yourselves toward it?

Lean into the change agents of defiance and the intention to bless.

In defiance, you refuse to allow hurt, anger, and past failure to determine the future of what you are able to create together. You take a stance of “hell, no” to death and evil in all its forms. With the intention to bless, you hold each other with wonder, awe, delight, and gratitude.

The Lord has set before us “life and death, blessings and curses” and exhorted us, “Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

So picture the moments when you’ll be tempted to curse yourself or your partner. Imagine what it might mean to open yourself more to give and receive life.

To furrow the soil of your heart and return to your blood covenantal promise.

To remind your partner of the sacrifice of Jesus and his outrageous forgiveness.

To water their soul with God’s grace, adoration, and delight.

To let echoes of his heart ring out to them: You are my beloved. I am yours; you are mine. I know you deeply. And I choose to bless you, always.

Response: What intentional choices can you make to bless your spouse this week, even in moments of frustration or difficulty?

Prayer: Eternal God and Father, you are worthy of all praise and adoration, and I can’t wait until that day when I will join my fellow saints in worshiping you without ceasing. Amen.