Uncuffed: Bulletproofing the Police Marriageಮಾದರಿ

# Things Love Changes > Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. > 2 Corinthians 5:17 Let’s scrap the old saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Love and marriage are unlike anything we could’ve ever known. And besides, this isn’t about tricks. I’d been divorced almost 20 years before Leah and I met and married. I was an old dog and had accumulated a mixed bag of tricks. But one thing was certain. If I wanted to enter into and remain in a rock-solid 2:24 Unit marriage, I couldn’t bring that old baggage along on a new journey. The choice to love is also the choice to change. The love we come to know through marriage is the best of love as God designed it to be shared between each other. Here are a few of love’s positive effects: 1. Physical Changes – Love has physiological effects on your body. Chemical levels such as dopamine, testosterone, norepinephrine, histocompatibility complex (MHC), and pheromones shift. These are all positive benefits. 2. Perspective – Love shifts your self-centered worldview into a shared, or partner-focused lens. Learning to see the world through another person’s heart is a powerful experience. It becomes a more transparent process as trust and love deepen. 3. Fighting Clean – Single people fight for one thing; preservation of their way of life. Throw a monkey wrench into their machinery and they come out fighting like an angry cat mistakenly bathed by a toilet’s flush. Love softens the heart for considering someone else’s point of view, and the potential for understanding that the world really doesn’t revolve around you. 4. Sexier Sex – Intimacy and trust lead to increased sexual pleasure. While being single and ready to mingle might make for a great beer commercial campaign, the reality of lonely nights, untrustworthy partners, or revolving door relations eventually leads to sexual dissatisfaction. 5. A Better You – Let’s face it, when it’s only you that you have to please, becoming self-consumed is almost guaranteed. Without outside stimuli, rare is the occasion to grow or improve. Because it is God’s expressed will that two people should become one, it’s not only pleasing to Him but immeasurably pleasing to you. ### CALL TO ACTION: Commit the time to talk with each other to identify what else being married has made better. Our expectation is that the first item on your list would be each other!