If you are married or ever want to be married... have you ever thought of God as your Father-In-Law?
No?
Me either... until I did.
Truth be told, if we believe in Jesus and profess to be followers of God... God is our Father. If our spouse is a follower of God... the same goes for them.
That means that God is our spouses Father, therefore, our Father-In-Law.
Not only that... if God is present in every circumstance and every breath we take... that means our Father-In-Law is privy to every argument, every selfish desire and word spoken, every time we don't show our spouse the love and respect they deserve (because they are God's child), or every time we lose our temper... He sees it all. He sees how we are treating His child.
WOAH!
Hold the phone.
This seems crazy.
And it is... but this goes back to how we love. It goes back to last weeks post of the Sermon on the Mount and how we are supposed to love the unlovable... love those who aren't easy to love.
I know sometimes it's easier to say or do things we regret when they are in private... we would never dream of saying or doing that thing if my spouses parents were in the room. But now this takes on a whole other realm.
Because our spouses ULTIMATE parent IS in the room.
Here is the million dollar question... how different would your arguments, disagreements, disappointments look like if we had the mindset that we were talking to God's kid... His beloved, cherished son or daughter.
The answer should be that it changes everything.
Marriage... what a beautiful conundrum that transforms us like no other relationship... not even parenthood.
It can be easy to thoughtlessly go through marriage in the day to day without ever thinking about how we come across.
For some every day is a new day to love.
But wherever you find yourself, now might be the best time to evaluate how we see our spouse and how we handle God's kid.
Every day His mercies are new and opportunities are available to love selflessly.
Marriage matters to God... so it matters to us.