"...submit to one another out of reverence for Christ..." – Ephesians 5:21 NLT

A healthy, happy marriage is the product of the combined effort of the husband and his wife. Would you want to have a marriage that is both enjoyable and satisfying? If you do, read on.

Healthy, Happy, and Loving It

A happy marriage is a gift from the Lord. Actually, all marriages are gifts from God. He is the One who gives us the man or woman we will be with for the rest of our life.

The Bible tells all men that "Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD" (Proverbs 19:14). Before you men think that God is concerned only about you though, realise that God wants all husbands to love their wives: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25).

For a marriage to be healthy and happy, effort is required. God indeed gives us the person we will marry and spend the rest of our lives with, but He expects us to cultivate love in the relationship.

He expects us to love our spouses.

Give Love to Your Spouse

When we love our spouses, we give them more reasons to be happy and love us back. It's like a cycle: the husband loves his wife, and with the love she receives the wife is able to love her husband back. We have to realise that "he who loves his wife loves himself" (see Ephesians 5:28). Our love for our spouse actually shows how much we love ourselves.

There are a variety of ways to give love to our spouses. Let me just share to you a few practical ways to do that:

1. Keep Your Marriage Sacred

Friends, let me just tell you that it's a loving thing to marry your spouse. Many relationships today enjoy the benefits of intimacy without the tempering and sobering power of the marriage covenant. When we commit to keep, protect, prioritise, and uphold our marriages above all relationships (aside from our relationship with God), we tell our spouses that we love them.

2. Find Ways to Serve Your Spouse

There are so many ways to serve your spouse, so exercise your creativity. Give your wife a massage, or prepare a good dinner for her while she's still on her way home. Prepare your husband's coffee without him requesting it. Find ways to serve one another.

3. Be Gentle and Kind

This one is basic, but many fail to do it. Men and women should learn to be kind and loving towards each other. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slower to become angry (see James 1:19). Also, when talking, choose to speak life and kind words to your spouse, speaking the truth in love.

Be gentle and kind in how you deal with your spouse. It matters a lot.