Marriage Monday - Love Dare 29

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Before we get started today with Love Dare 29, I am wondering how you have been doing with the love dares?  For the past 29 weeks (click HERE for past dares) we have been going through this book and if you have been wholeheartedly doing the dares, I know they have been impacting your marriage.  Please share in the comments section your favorite dare, the hardest dare for you to do and how they have touched your marriage.

Render service with a good attitude,

as to the Lord and not to man.  

Ephesians 6:7

It doesn't take much experience to discover that your mate will not always motive your love.  No, there will even be times that you find it difficult to express your love to your husband.  And there are even more times when you demonstrate your love and he does not receive it, or at least not like you think he should have.

The Love Dare says to consider the following areas where please Him should become our goal:

Work: "Do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men." Col 3:23

Service: "Obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord." Col 3:22

Everything: "Work hard at whatever you do...knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.  It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." Col 3:23-24

Even marriage: "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. " Col 3:18 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Eph 5:25

The love that we give our husband should not depend on how kind or romantic he is this week.  Is he forgetting to help around the house?  Not calling you during the day?  Hasn't taken you out on a date?  Just hard to live with in general?  Love him anyway.  Love him "as to the Lord."

If your love for your husband is out of duty, your love will not last.  If your love for him is motivated by his mood or what he does for you, the love will die.  Only love that is lifted up as an offering to God -returned to Him in gratitude for all He's done- is able to sustain itself when all other reasons have lost their ability to energize us.

Today's Dare: 

Before you see your spouse again today, pray for his needs.  Whether it comes easy for your or not, say "I love you," then express love to him in some tangible way.  Go to God in prayer again, thanking Him for giving you the privilege of loving this one special person -unconditionally, the way He loves both of you.

Sweet Blessings~