We make time for what we believe is important. This is particularly true when it comes to our ministry involvements. Ministry is what we do in service to God for the benefit of others. When we are involved in ministry, we have to consciously and carefully strike a balance between those things or people that are deserving of our foremost attention, and those that are not. For those of us who are involved in multiple ministries, prioritizing becomes even more of a necessity. If we do not prioritize, we will find ourselves experiencing burn out or even resentment towards the very ones to whom we are called to minister. Prioritizing becomes critical especially when it comes to the ministry of marriage and our other ministry involvements.

When the word 'ministry' is mentioned, marriage might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but if you're married, it should be. Unlike many ministries, marriage is not a ministry that involves one person (or a group of persons) giving in service for the benefit of others. Instead it involves two people giving in service for the benefit of one another. Marriage is a mutual ministry, and it is reciprocal in every sense of the word.

Marriage is also a unique ministry. Aside from following Christ in individual discipleship, marriage is the only ministry that expressly demands the type of sacrificial love that is demonstrated by the giving up of one's life for the benefit of another. It is the only ministry that creates an environment of holiness just by virtue of its existence. Marriage is the only ministry that equates loving the one being ministered to as being the same as loving yourself. Other than God, the husband or the wife is the only other person we are told to cleave to. No other ministry ordains that the minister become one with the person being ministered to. Marriage is intended to be a wondrous illustration of Christ's love for his bride, the Church. Such an honorable distinction warrants priority treatment.

Many Christian marriages are suffering today, and many have ended needlessly because one or both of the "ministers" in the marriage do not or did not understand the priority of the ministry of marriage. If you are spending more time and energy providing spiritual leadership to others and have not seen to the spiritual welfare and leadership of your own marriage, your ministry priorities are out of order. If you, like Peter, are called to feed God's sheep and the sheep that God has placed in your very arms (i.e. your spouse) is malnourished, uncared for, and unprotected, your ministry priorities are out of order. If you spend the majority of your time encouraging and affirming others and your own spouse is craving a kind or complimentary word from you, your ministry priorities are out of order. If you give so much of yourself to others that you have little or nothing left to give to your spouse, your ministry priorities are out of order.

God created us in His own image and likeness, and He created marriage in the image and likeness of Christ's relationship with us. As such, we should do all we can to ensure that the image of God in us, and the image of Christ's relationship with us, as is reflected in Christian marriage, is not tarnished. This is something you can do even if you're not married. If you are married and find yourself putting other ministry involvements above your marriage, then your ministry of marriage has been displaced and the image it represents has become distorted. Do all that you can to make your ministry of marriage a priority and keep your ministry of marriage a priority.

Aleathea Dupree is the author of Though The Vision Tarry: Waiting For My Promised Mate and the Administrator of the Deep Waters website/forum. Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved. For permission to reprint, please contact: administrator@deepwaters.info.

A MARRIED WOMAN IN THE ARMS OF ANOTHER WOMAN
"I was married 12 years, and 6 years into the marriage there was a disconnection." More…

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