Holy....or happy?

Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas is a revolutionary book. The premise of the book is: "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?"

Almost every talk show, commercial and television sitcom seems to center around making ourselves happy and meeting our own needs.

This book does just the opposite. It is counter-cultural. It reminds me that marriage is not about me. It's not even about me and my spouse. It's about me and my relationship with God. Thomas points out that the celebration of marriage is meant to draw us closer to God and to grow in Christian character. Isn't that a beautiful picture of marriage?

He quotes Katherine Anne Porter on her view of marriage and commitment: "This is the reality of the human heart, the inevitably of two sinful people pledging to live together, with all their faults, for the rest of their lives."

Marriage is two sinful people choosing to live life together - which brings many challenges and opportunities for growth. Sacred Marriage encourages its readers to see these opportunities as ways to learn more about God, grow in our understanding of him and learn to love him more.

One last thought from Sacred Marriage that challenged me: "If you want to be free to serve Jesus, there's no question--stay single. Marriage takes a lot of time. But if you want to become more like Jesus, I can't imagine any better thing to do than to get married. Being married forces you to face some character issues you'd never have to face otherwise."

Isn't that true? Six years into marriage and I know that my character is challenged daily in the ways I speak and respond to my husband. Just when I think I've figured it all out, life changes and my character is continually challenged.

Those are just a few nuggets of insight and wisdom from this book. If you read it, let me know what you think!

What's on your bookshelves that you are reading these days?