God’s Pattern for Husbands Podcast by Pastor John MacArthur for Grace to You
Originally delivered in 1946.
On February 14 of this year, the Daily News, our local newspaper, reported an AP story about Rex and Teresa LeGalley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They were married recently, and they had claimed to have built their marriage on a solid foundation, a foundation that guaranteed to them success in marriage. What was that foundation? A 16-page pre-nuptial agreement. In that 16-page agreement they had spelled out in clear detail an understanding of everything that can go wrong in a marriage.
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The rules were all laid out: how often they will make love and which gasoline they will buy. Who does the laundry and who does the yard. Some of the rules; nothing is to be left on the floor overnight. Another one, never allow the fuel gauge in the car to go lower than half a tank, and on and on it goes. A solid foundation for a marriage; surely, that will guarantee a great marriage. Typically, people believe that a great marriage is really guaranteed by being in love. If people are just in love, no rules are necessary. If they just love each other, if there’s just the bliss of romance. But it’s so very hard to define that bliss.
Recently there was a survey done among children about love, children looking at the adult world; were asked a series of questions. Let me share some of the answers. They were asked: how do people in love typically behave? Wendy, age 8 said, “Well, when a person gets kissed for the first time, they fall down and they don’t get up for at least an hour.” They were asked another question: why does love happen between certain people? Andrew, age 6 said, “Well, one of the people has freckles so he finds somebody else who has freckles too.” May, age 9 said, “No one is really sure why it happens, but I heard it has something to do with how you smell, and that’s why perfume and deodorant are so popular.” Then there was Manuel, age 8. He said, “I think you’re supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn’t to be so painful.”
Then they were asked: what do you think falling in love is like. John, age 9 said, “It’s like an avalanche, and you ought to run for your life.” Glen, age 7 said, “If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell I don’t want to do it. It takes too long.” On the role of looks in love, the children were asked:how important is your looks when it comes to falling in love? Anita, age 8, said “If you want to be loved by somebody who isn’t already in your family it doesn’t hurt to be beautiful.” Brian, age 7 said, “It isn’t always just how you look. Look at me. I’m handsome like anything and I haven’t gotten anybody to marry me yet.” Christine said, “While beauty is skin deep, but how rich you are can last a long time.” Then the children were asked: why do lovers hold hands? Gavin, age 8 said, “They want to make sure their rings don’t fall off, because they paid good money for them.” John, age 9 said, “They’re just practicing for when they might have to walk down the aisle someday and do that holy matrimony thing.”
