ENSURE YOUR LOVE LASTS
Proverbs 17:9 NLT
Disregarding another person’s faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends.
Most days, I feel like one of the luckiest men alive. This is a big reason why. As a young man, I simply never imagined the blessing it would be to have a wife who so faithfully disregards and overlooks my faults and flaws. It just never dawned on me what a priceless gift this would be. Perhaps because I didn’t think of myself as very flawed, it didn’t strike me then. That self-delusion ended a long time ago.
In a few weeks we will celebrate 46 years of married life together. Looking back in reflection on those years, if I am honest with myself, I see my many faults and flaws. I see with crystal clarity just how much my wife has graciously overlooked and disregarded. I see how kind and forgiving she’s been to me. I also recognize how incredibly blessed I’ve been to have a wife who is not a blabber mouth! She hasn’t ragged about me to friends, talked me down, nor recounted to others my faults and flaws. There is no other person on earth who I feel as safe with as Kathy. No other person I’ve ever known has loved me more, in spite of my shortcomings. She knows me better than anyone else in the world.
This is one of the treasures of life-long love. I can look back and see just how much this gem of a woman has loved me, even though I’m a flawed man. She has protected my reputation and honored me in spite of my faults. This has been the great preservative of our love. It’s one of the most important secrets to the long shelf-life of our marriage.
Without this preservative your love will not withstand the passage of time!
This is a powerful, simple truth, but remember—it only works if you actually do it!
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
