God’s Version of Superglue

Bible Reading:   Genesis 2:18-25

A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Genesis 2:24

There’s an incredible secret you need to know about married love. And you’re old enough to know all about it. Ready? Here it is: If you want to have a long-lasting, love-filled marriage someday, you need one special ingredient: superglue.

You might be thinking, Whoa! God wants me and my spouse to glue our eye­brows together so we’ll always see eye-to-eye?

Not exactly. God has a deeper kind of glue. Genesis 2:24 commands a man to be glued to his wife. That’s what “joined” means. When husband and wife are glued to­gether with God’s superglue, they become one in a marriage that will last.

Falling in love—the emotional side of love—is a lot like the glue stick you have in your desk at school. It isn’t strong enough to hold a marriage together. Even in the best relationships, feelings come and go. They don’t make an unbreakable bond or a lifelong marriage.

But there’s another kind of glue. It’s like an industrial-strength adhesive. It’s the only stuff that holds a marriage together. It’s the superglue of commitment.

Oh, you’re thinking, you mean having a marriage ceremony. No! Saying “I do” in front of a minister and signing a marriage license are part of it, but commitment is way deeper than that. Commitment means choosing daily to give yourself to your partner—and then the two of you giving yourselves to God as one. That kind of glue welds people together with such power that they can endure all the pressing, pulling, stretching, and twisting that life inflicts on them.

Someday your prince or princess will probably come along. You’ll see fireworks explode in the sky. You’ll hear guitars rock when he or she speaks. And you’ll swear that you’re in heaven whenever you’re with that special person. That’s the falling-in-love thing, and it’s a beautiful experience. But putting a marriage together with that feeling alone is like trying to hold two bricks together with paste. You’ll be ready to get serious about marriage only when you pop this important question: “Am I ready to glue myself to this person for keeps?”

When you and your loved one share the bond of commitment to God and to each other, the fireworks and guitars won’t disappear. They just won’t be as important as the superglue.

TALK: What kind of glue are you counting on to keep your marriage together someday?

PRAY: God, teach us each day for the rest of our lives what true, loving commitment looks like.

ACT: Write a note to say thanks to the people who show you what the superglue of married commitment looks like.

Jukebox Way

Bible Reading: James 1:19-25

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.   James 1:22, NIV

YOU’RE ON VACATION with your parents. You wanted to go on a two-week tour of the best amusement parks in the world, but your mom and dad overruled you. You’re going to the International Jukebox Museum instead.

You’ve been in the car with your parents and your little sister for four days, and if she sings “If You’re Happy and You Know It” one more time, you’ll knock yourself unconscious against the window. Your dad has stopped the car only once in those four days, announcing as you poured yourself out of the car, “We leave in three minutes.” Lately, however, you’ve noticed that the scenery seems to be repeating itself.

“Are we lost?” you ask.

“No,” Dad says in a voice of exasperation. “We’re almost there.”

“Daddy, I have to go to the bathroom,” your little sister says.

“Why don’t you just ask for directions?” your mom suggests.

“I don’t need directions. I know where I’m going.”

“That must explain,” your mom says, pointing out the window, “why we’ve passed that little park four times now.”

“All right, all right,” your dad finally says. He jerks the car into a gas station and asks the attendant for directions to the International Jukebox Museum.

“Right at the light,” the man answers, popping his chewing gum in his cheek. “Two miles, hang a left at the bottling company. The next left is Jukebox Way.” Your dad thanks the man, pulls out of the service station, and turns left at the next light.

“Dear,” your mom says, “the man said to turn right at the light.”

“I know.”

“But you turned left. “You’re going the wrong way,” Mom says.

“No,” your dad answers, “I’ll still get there. I’ll just go my own way.”

You slump back in your seat. Your sister starts singing again. You eye the window, wondering how hard you’d have to hit your head to knock yourself unconscious.

That’s pretty unrealistic, isn’t it? No one would get directions from someone who knows the way and then choose to ignore them.

But we do that all the time. God has given us directions—lots of them! He has told us, point blank, how to live a holy and joyful life. Yet we often choose to go our own way rather than follow directions from someone who knows the way. It’s not enough to know right from wrong; you must also choose right or your knowledge is useless.

REFLECT: When was the last time you knew the right thing but did the wrong thing anyway? What made you choose wrong? How can you choose differently the next time?

PRAY: “Lord, help me not merely to listen to your Word but to do what it says.”