With Valentine’s Day upon us, I thought I would share my favorite book on Marriage, The Meaning of Marriage, By: Tim and Kathy Keller.  Husbands and wives, this would be a GREAT gift for Valentine’s Day. But don’t stop at just giving the book. Commit to taking the time to go through it and discuss it with your spouse.  It will be time well spent. 

The book is not a self-help book full of religious psycho-babble. It is clear, honest, helpful, BIBLICAL teaching on the subject of marriage.

Here’s an excerpt:

Marriage is a major vehicle for the gospel’s remaking of your heart from the inside out and your life from the ground up…The reason marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves that we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness, it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God’s mercy and grace…The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God.  But a good marriage will also be a place where we experience more of this kind of transforming love at a human level. The gospel can fill our hearts with God’s love so that you can handle it when your spouse fails to love you as he or she should. That frees us to see our spouse’s sins and flaws to the bottom–and speak of them–and yet still love and accept our spouse fully. And when, by the power of the gospel, our spouse experiences that same kind of truthful yet committed love, it enables our spouses to show us that same kind of transforming love when the time comes for it…Through the gospel, we get both the power and the pattern for the journey of marriage. The Meaning of Marriage, p. 48