Holy

 God didn't give you 

your spouse to make

you happy. He gave

you your spouse to 

make you holy.

From Marriage Revolution

Marriage will disappoint you if happiness if the goal. Because happiness is a feeling, and feelings are fickle. They come and go based on circumstances, hormones, stress levels, and whether or not someone remembered to take out the trash.

But holiness? That's the real work of marriage.

God uses your spouse to expose your selfishness, your pride, your need for control, your impatience. And He uses you to do the same for them. It's uncomfortable. It's refining. And it's exactly what you both need.

Ephesians 5 doesn't just tell us how to love our spouse, it tells us WHY. Marriage is a living picture of Christ and the Church. It's meant to display sacrificial love, radical forgiveness, and covenant faithfulness to a world that doesn't believe those things exist.

When you choose to love your spouse on the hard days, when they're not meeting your needs, when you're exhausted, when you'd rather walk away, you're preaching the gospel without saying a word.

Your marriage isn't just about your happiness. It's about God's glory. And when you shift your focus from "what am I getting" to "who am I becoming", everything changes.

Is your marriage making you more like Christ, or are you still just chasing happiness?