A Lifelong Love: Devotional

By Gary Thomas and Nathanael White

In this marriage devotional , you will find deeper spiritual and personal application for the principles in the book A Lifelong Love by Gary Thomas. Draw closer even closer together as you reflect on this devotional content.

Build the Right Foundation

Marriage is designed by God, a mark of His kindness because He allows us to know the joys of intimacy and family life. Yet even the best of marriages is a miserable substitute for the ultimate reality of living for God. Unless…

Unless we have a magnificent obsession, an overriding purpose that ties our days together, gives comfort in the valleys, calls us forward in the suffering, highlights our joy, and even seasons our ecstasies. That's what God provides in a marriage based on Him. "If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."—John 15:5 What do you think it looks like to have God as your magnificent obsession?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Belle City Gifts
• Release date: Dec 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781424550425

Gary Thomas

Gary Thomas is writer-in-residence at Second Baptist Church in Houston, a frequent guest on Focus on the Family and FamilyLife Today radio, and a popular speaker. His award-winning books have been translated into over a dozen languages and together have sold over a million copies worldwide. Thomas and his wife have been married thirty years and have three children. 

Book preview

Build the Right Foundation

Marriage is designed by God, a mark of His kindness because He allows us to know the joys of intimacy and family life. Yet even the best of marriages is a miserable substitute for the ultimate reality of living for God. Unless…

Unless we have a magnificent obsession, an overriding purpose that ties our days together, gives comfort in the valleys, calls us forward in the suffering, highlights our joy, and even seasons our ecstasies.

That’s what God provides in a marriage based on Him.

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. —JOHN 15:5

What do you think it looks like to have God as your magnificent obsession?

Living for God

Nothing, not even marriage, can substitute for kingdom life, because that’s how God created us. It might be possible to offer five steps to help your marriage be a little less miserable, but nothing can substitute for keeping God’s kingdom first.

Marriage is a lot of wonderful things, but it is not our reason for being. To expect it to become that is to smother it. But when we allow God to be our reason for being and place Him first, it frees our marriages to be filled with the good God desires for them.

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. —MATTHEW 6:33

Write a letter telling God what you desire for your marriage. How does living for Him affect those desires?

Starting with God’s Love

Perhaps you feel you bring a lot to your marriage. Perhaps you feel you bring very little. Either way, when God becomes part of the equation, what we bring doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is what He brings.

Three elements—drawing near to God, pursuing real love, and intentionally pursuing each other—build a stable base upon which good marriages grow. They place our hope in God and not in ourselves.

A good marriage isn’t about us; it’s about God and what He brings. Place God at the center of your marriage today.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. —JEREMIAH 31:3

What does it mean to you that God loves you with an everlasting love?

God Is Your Father-In-Law

If your spouse is saved, then God sees them as His child. That makes Him not just your Father, but also your Father-in-Law.

Consider that, and then think about this: How would you feel if a daughter-in-law treated your son the way you treat your husband? Or how would you feel if a son-in-law treated your daughter the way you treat your