Living a Servant MarriageSample

 God has called you

Just as we have a calling to a vocation and/or ministry, many of us have a calling to marriage. If marriage is part of your calling, it is important to understand it if you intend to grow in it. Without understanding the call to be married, you will look at marriage mostly through secular lenses and focus your evaluation of the marriage on how happy you are, and not on how well you are serving your spouse. 

Here is just a little bit more about calling. When you answer your cell phone, it has a cool feature on it that tells you who is calling (if you have them in your contacts list). It is important to know who is calling you. When anyone is called to a vocation, ministry, or marriage (and so on), who does the calling? God. 

God, the Almighty, the awesome, all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful Creator is the one who calls you into salvation, ministry, vocation, and yes—He alone has called you into marriage. He alone is the one to whom you will answer for the quality of service toward your spouse. He alone will move you into various stages of preparation and progress as you pass through the various adventures of marriage. 

It is God who has called me to serve Lisa. She alone is my first ministry—above my children (as wonderful as they are), any public ministry or vocation or responsibility, my house responsibilities, workouts, hobbies, or adventures. The only calling above ministry to Lisa is my ministry to love and serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Now I will be up front; I am not perfect. However, anyone who knows me knows I am committed. During my education, parenting, or working I made no excuses not to date Lisa, assist around the house, or to help the kids with homework, because this is my calling. Every cell in my body accepts that I am called to be a servant to Lisa. 

Accepting my role as a servant (and the ongoing revelations of what that means) has been a journey of growth, repentance, and expansion of my servant heart toward Lisa. I started off young, immature, selfish, impatient, and unkind—like many married people do. Today, I accept my role as a servant. I am called to serve, period.