God uses the metaphor of marriage to describe the close, devoted relationship He wants with us. With that ‘marriage’ as a model, we can have a heavenly marriage on earth.
Heavenly Marriage with God
The book of Hosea in the Bible tells a metaphorical story of a devoted husband to a wayward wife. It’s symbolic of the role God wants to fill in our lives. Each one of us is wayward, apt to wander off the path of life at any moment. But God is always faithful, ready to receive us with open arms if we will just come back to Him.
Israel, I will make you my wife; I will be true and faithful; I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine for ever. I will keep my promise and make you mine, and you will acknowledge me as Lord.
Hosea 2:19-20 GNB
Receive and relish God’s true, faithful, loving, merciful and devoted love for you. He will equip you to be confident in your own skin, your own identity. His love for you will blossom in love and appreciation for the way He made you. In other words you will love yourself in a life-giving, healthy way.
The passage above in Hosea is a love letter to you from your Creator. He is asking you to learn from His love; so you can be true, faithful, loving, merciful and devoted to your husband.
Does that sound impossible? What if you’re married to “Prickly?” You’ve been disappointed and your marriage hasn’t turned out the way you hoped it would.
Heavenly Marriage with your Spouse
The key to loving your prickly husband lies in how you ‘love’ yourself.
And the second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.’
Mark 12:31 TPT
Psychologists say we all do love ourselves. But sometimes our self-love is unhealthy. Even to the extent of suicide – a very unhealthy act of self-love.
Loving yourself is not self-centered or prideful. It’s practicing healthy self-care. It’s not thinking too little or too much of yourself. It’s resting in the joy that we are of the utmost value in God’s eyes.
There’s a difference between loving ourselves and being ‘in love’ with ourselves.
The first rests in our value before God; the second demands a value above all others.
Irwin McManus
If you don’t love yourself in a healthy way, you can’t love your husband, prickles and all, in a healthy way.
Learning to Love Yourself
My book, Making Peace with Prickly People helps the reader explore their own self-love. Is your Prickly Person really yourself-are you your own worst enemy? What’s the temperature of your self-love? Do you know your God-given identity? Have you believed lies about who you really are?
The answer to those questions will set you free to truly love your husband.
…because U count, deb