Does Your Marriage Crave Water or Coca Cola?
by Angie Lewis
Heaven Ministries

When we feel thirsty and need to drink something to satisfy our thirst, what do we drink? Some of us drink water, and then some of us drink soft drinks. When our marriage is thirsty, what do we do?  Some of us give our marriage what it craves and needs the most, pure, clean water. But some of us don’t understand what our marriage is really craving and we don’t give it water but something else that pollutes it even more. 

Coca Cola doesn’t satisfy our thirst like the commercials like to show us. It does satisfy the sugar and caffeine craving though, and that’s the reason why some people drink so much of it; they have become addicted to its flavor and burning sensation as it enters the gullet. But Soft drinks are one of the worst things you can drink when thirsty because of the damage it does to the body and teeth.

The temporary fix that soft drinks give the body is deceiving, because when we drink them we aren’t thirsty any more, and it keeps us from drinking water, which is what our body really needs. Drinking a lot of soft drinks is a temporary pleasure in life, but one that does considerable damage to the body and teeth in the long run.

The same analogy applies to what we water our marriage with. Where are you getting your water? We can water our marriage with what feels good to us at the moment for a temporary rush, but in the long run it will actually do more damage to the marriage. If the water is not from the Master Designer Himself, then it is not good for your marriage. This is how you will know if it is right or not. Living water produces fruits for your marriage.

When your marriage is thirsty, what do you treat it with? Pure, clean, spiritual living water, or soft drinks? We need to be careful and discerning about what we give our marriage to drink. Jesus tells us: “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

There were times in my own marriage when I would go running to my mom or sister about every little thing my husband upset me with. I married very young and so I wasn’t ready for marriage.  I thought I was watering my marriage when I went crying to mommy.  I was invariably always told by my mom to leave my husband and seek a divorce. It didn’t matter to her if I provoked any of the problems or not.  My mother was prejudice of course, and felt that all my marriage problems were my husband’s fault.  But of course they weren’t, but try and tell her that.

I wasn’t watering my marriage; I was only making it worse. I felt better about myself though, because all the blame went to my husband. It was a temporary pleasure seeking solace that I got from my mom, but in the long run it was actually doing considerable damage to my marriage. I found out the hard way that you don’t go running to your parents or siblings about your marital issues because they will always be pre-judge and take your side. Looking back on it now, I wished that I would have gone to the correct source for my marriage problems, it would have ended any unnecessary pain and suffering for both my husband and I, but I didn’t know any better.  I knew what I knew, and by-golly I was going to play God and give my marriage water from my own well!

The same thing is happening in most marriages of today. Couples are giving their marriage the wrong source of water, and it is actually contaminating it even more. God has set marriage “apart” for Him and His purpose, and He takes marriage very seriously. 

On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37)

 

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