I recently had the honor of performing a wedding of two individuals who I had association with through their struggle with addiction. The woman I had helped through a group we started through our church about 15 years ago. She had come and sought teaching, counseling, and life assistance. But then over the years we had lost touch with one another. The man had graduated “The Way” about 3 ½ years ago.
They had both finally come to a point of mutual sobriety in their lives and wanted to commit themselves as Christians to one another as husband and wife.
As we celebrated their union on the front lawn of the groom’s parents on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I reflected on the conversion of their relationship. As addicts, we live for ourselves. Every relationship is about what I can get out of someone else. But in spiritual Christ-centered sobriety, it’s about what I have received from the Lord and what I can give to all those in my life.
I emphasized three key points of relationship conversion that they were committing to that memorable afternoon.
- After having pursued each other for their own personal satisfaction, they were now committing their relationship in marriage to honor and serve God. They were committing themselves to the relationship that God had established at the beginning of creation with the words, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)
- They were committing themselves to serve one another under the biblical instructions from Ephesians 5:21-33. That the wife should express respect for her husband in submission and that the husband should love his wife as Christ has loved him.
- They were establishing a relationship that just wasn’t committed to serving each other, but also the community. They would establish a home of Christ-centered service to their family and friends and follow the example of Christ who, “did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Their wedding was about the celebration of the freedom from bondage that they had discovered in Christ. And that this new freedom was not given as an opportunity for self-indulgence, “but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
There is no greater joy than to see God’s amazing handiwork in taking two individuals and converting them into one redeemed couple. A true relationship conversion.
Tom Reynolds