The Importance of Mutual Understanding by Spouses in A Marriage

Through marriages, each individual can develop his/her characters to grow and be mature. “God uses our spouses so that we could understand more about who we really are,” added Campbell. As human beings we tend to be selfish, wanting to control our spouse, but the Bible teaches us to understand and control ourselves so that it is not our will that happens in our marriage life but God?s.

Challenges faced by many couples are how to nurture their marriage life. “It takes hard work from both sides, because if marriages are easy then we will not grow. Conflicts are indeed inevitable, but through them we will discover new things in our partner and learn to understand them better,” Campbell continued.

The seminar which was held in cooperation between UPH Faculty of Psychology and Badan Kerjasama Perguruan Tinggi Kristen Indonesia (BKPTKI ? Association of Christian Colleges and Universities in Indonesia) also presented Peter Hill, a professor of psychology at Biola University. He said that everyone should make Jesus as the model. “Jesus emptied Himself when entering the world in order to understand and love humans. We should follow His footsteps, emptying ourselves to understand more about our spouse and love him/her,” said Hill.

He also stressed that marriage is more than just a commitment, “Marriage is a covenant relationship.? Many people believe sexual intimacy is what brings the couples closer to each other, while actually spiritual intimacy is the most important one. Sharing the faith and pray together would be much more effective in uniting couples and describing the covenant relationship that God desired. (cyn)