RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

It’s been something that I’ve seen way too often. A young couple stands at the altar of a church, madly in love with each other. They commit themselves to love and cherish one another for the rest of their lives. Ten years later –– they almost hate each other, and some even find themselves in divorce court.
One can only ask, “What happened? How did such a sweet love between two people evaporate so quickly? One author of the Bible not only asked a similar question but also gave a clue to the source of the problem with another question. “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” he asked. “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (James 4:1).
James proceeds to explain that there’s a battle raging inside each of us. He mentions three sources of this battle: the flesh, the world and the devil. He then gives us insight into how to fight those battles. There are several things he mentions, but he begins and concludes with the same truth.
He writes in verse six of chapter four, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” He concludes by giving his final calculation for the solution to the problem of quarrels and fights. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
You can’t begin to resolve problems in your marriage without humility of heart. And, you’ll never totally conquer your quarrels without humbling yourself. It’s the starting and finishing line for stopping a fight.
Humility of heart is a powerful tool for the fight against the flesh because it is the one character quality that attracts the grace of God. All strong relationships need a great amount of grace if they are to continue down the path of health.
Also, humility is the characteristic that most reflects Jesus. Paul wrote about the character of Christ and said, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
The secret to a successful marriage can be found in one person: Jesus. When He is at the center of our relationship, He injects great hope. When He is the One working deep within us, He manifests His character. When He is enabling us to respond to each other, His love fills us. When we humble ourselves under His mighty hand, He lifts us up. When we take the position of humility, His grace fills us.
If we are to allow Him to create a relationship that will last for a lifetime, then we must become like Him. We are compelled to humble ourselves as He did. We will then discover His power to lift us above the anger and frustration and find the grace to forgive. When we do that, we’ll discover that down the road in life, we will still be madly in love with one another. We’ll love more than we did when we stood at the altar.
That has proven true in my relationship with my wife. It’s been a half-century since I stood at that altar and committed myself to Tex. I love her more than I did when we were first married. By God’s grace, we love each other more!