The Secret to Marriage (Word to Husbands)
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Pastor John is on a writing leave right now,
00:00:07.180 | writing his next book, and we will have more on that
00:00:09.420 | in the near future, but for the next several episodes,
00:00:12.100 | we're joined by our good friend Ray Ortland.
00:00:15.340 | Ray is an author and the senior pastor
00:00:17.740 | of Emanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee.
00:00:20.860 | And today I wanna talk about marriage
00:00:22.500 | because Ray, I've been following you on Twitter
00:00:25.020 | and Instagram for a few years now,
00:00:27.500 | and one of the things that strikes me
00:00:28.980 | is the beautiful and happy marriage you enjoy
00:00:32.060 | with your wife, Jannie.
00:00:33.260 | It's really sweet to watch.
00:00:34.820 | And so I wanna start here, speaking especially to guys,
00:00:38.740 | what is the secret to a long and sweet and happy marriage?
00:00:43.740 | (laughs)
00:00:45.000 | - Well, I think of immediately of Proverbs 5, verse 18,
00:00:49.260 | rejoice in the wife of your youth.
00:00:51.900 | I'm struck by that because it doesn't say
00:00:53.660 | rejoice in your young wife.
00:00:55.820 | That's biblical too.
00:00:57.820 | Deuteronomy 24 says, "When a man is newly married,
00:01:01.860 | "he shall not go out with the army.
00:01:04.060 | "He shall be free at home for one year
00:01:05.900 | "to be happy with his wife."
00:01:07.140 | And that sounds like a really wonderful year.
00:01:09.940 | Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
00:01:12.500 | That lasts throughout a lifetime, even into old age.
00:01:16.900 | The wife of my youth, Tony, she will always be,
00:01:20.820 | however long we live, she will always be that girl
00:01:24.620 | I fell in love with starting September 12th, 1968,
00:01:28.540 | just outside the South entrance to Centennial Gym
00:01:31.500 | on the campus of Wheaton College.
00:01:33.100 | And in the intervening years, now 43 years,
00:01:36.420 | which have flown by, nothing important has changed.
00:01:40.340 | She is still that girl who gave herself to me
00:01:44.780 | on our wedding day.
00:01:45.660 | She literally put herself in my arms.
00:01:48.100 | She could not have been more trusting.
00:01:50.260 | She could not have honored me any more than she did.
00:01:53.420 | And Proverbs 5:18 is calling me to remember that
00:01:57.380 | and dwell on that, the privilege of falling in love with her,
00:02:01.300 | being entrusted by God with this precious girl,
00:02:04.540 | dwelling on that, marveling at that, rejoicing in that.
00:02:08.540 | So I would say in answer to your question, Tony,
00:02:13.060 | any married man who's listening, I would ask,
00:02:15.980 | what made you fall in love with your wife at the start?
00:02:19.380 | Something really wonderful happened there.
00:02:21.740 | Falling in love is one of the great privileges
00:02:24.900 | of human existence.
00:02:25.980 | It is truly of God.
00:02:27.860 | Go back to that.
00:02:29.500 | And of course, much has happened through the years,
00:02:32.340 | but if you still have that girl,
00:02:34.460 | she counts for more than all the troubles of this life.
00:02:37.740 | And the years take a toll, of course,
00:02:39.740 | but she will always be that girl
00:02:42.100 | that you fell in love with.
00:02:43.180 | So marvel at what God gave you
00:02:45.180 | and think of how God has blessed you through her
00:02:47.980 | and let your heart melt all over again.
00:02:50.180 | God is inviting us, I think, through Proverbs 5:18,
00:02:53.900 | he's inviting every married man into a lifetime
00:02:56.980 | of careful, thoughtful, intentional rejoicing
00:03:01.580 | as long as we both shall live.
00:03:03.540 | - Wonderful, thank you for that reminder, Ray.
00:03:06.660 | That's Ray Ortlund, the author of several books,
00:03:09.500 | including two of my favorites,
00:03:11.460 | his Commentary on Proverbs, which is just outstanding.
00:03:14.420 | It's one of my top 10 books of the year back in 2012
00:03:17.180 | and I really enjoyed reading his latest title,
00:03:19.420 | The Gospel, How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ,
00:03:23.140 | which was in my list of best books in 2014.
00:03:26.340 | And we'll talk about the role of the local church later on.
00:03:29.220 | I have several more questions for Ray coming up.
00:03:31.980 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, we'll see you tomorrow.
00:03:34.500 | (upbeat music)
00:03:37.100 | (upbeat music)
00:03:39.700 | [BLANK_AUDIO]