Make Marriage a Cord of Three Stands
“There’s a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,
When two that are link’d in one heavenly tie,
With heart never changing and brow never cold,
Love on through all ills, and love on till they die!
Moore
Our shared faith gives us a common focus in life. Sharing a common belief system gives us the opportunity to develop spiritual intimacy with each other. Thousands of years ago, King Solomon saw the value of spiritual intimacy when he said that two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work . . . But even better, a cord of three stands is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12).
We love to apply the concept of “a cord with three strands” to our marriage. David is one strand; Claudia is one strand, and the third strand is God’s Holy Spirit.
Many times we let each other down, and it’s then that we look to our third strand to help us keep our marriage vows when our individual strands are frayed. Like the time we were facing an international move. Dave thought it was the greatest opportunity and adventure of a lifetime. Claudia? She thought it was a disastrous idea and would be the biggest mistake of our lives! Very quickly our strands were frayed. Without our third strand strengthening us and holding us together, Dave might have gone to Europe and Claudia might have stayed in the USA. Our strands would not have even been on the same continent!
In the end we did move to Germany. The first couple of years were not the best of times in our marriage, but during this time our cord intertwined with power from above held us and sustained us. Eventually things improved. Looking back now we see how God used the difficulties we experienced in those years to lead us to our present work as marriage and family life educators!
Ecclesiastes 9:4-12 became our special marriage passage. Today when we begin to pull in different directions, we come back to the biblical picture of marriage as a cord of three strands. Through this Scripture, God renews our perspective.
Do you have a marriage verse? If not, we suggest you find a passage that you could claim for your marriage. Maybe you will want to adopt our Ecclesiastes passage. Your marriage can be marked by a joyful spirit, surrounded by the peace of God and His presence when you allow him to be the third strand. Remember, a cord of three strands is not easily broken!
