To Live is Christ — thankful for fellowship

One of the lines on the birthday card my husband gave me this year says, “I love that I can talk to you about the Lord and know that you’ll understand.”

This warms my heart because it was not always so, not the understanding part, but the part about talking to me about the Lord. I became a Christian nearly ten years before he did. While that was long ago, I recall the struggles of being what the Bible calls unequally yoked.

This passage that I’m studying is a good reminder of how to pray for my husband. We have shared our faith in Christ since he became a Christian on January 20, 1980.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3–5)

Fellowship means “mutual participation in a person and a way of life.” My husband and I share in knowing Jesus Christ and in wanting to live the Christian life. That does not mean perfection. (I wish.) We have both made colossal mistakes, disobeyed God, hurt one another, have habits that annoy each other, and yet people still say to us that there is so much love and laughter in our home.

The difference is that third Person. Jesus makes thankfulness possible, even after arguing over a difference of opinion. Jesus puts it on our hearts to pray for one another. Jesus gives us joy that we know Him and that we can share who He is and how He thinks and behaves in our life together.

Frankly, without Jesus, I don’t know how people can stay married. The fact is, many of them don’t. Even Christian marriages fall apart. Yet Jesus is glue. Fellowship together in Him is glue. When I’m upset or annoyed with something concerning my spouse, the Lord has this way of melting the ice and putting His right thinking into my head so I can remember rightly, be truly thankful, and have joy in my heart for the fellowship of sharing my Christian life with someone who loves Him too.