The vows you make to your spouse on your wedding day are a promise to be faithful to each other. You proclaim in front of your loved ones and each other that you’re there for the good, bad, and ugly. You’re each other’s person for life, a powerful and beautiful pledge of commitment to each other.
God honors the marriage covenant and wants us to stay faithful whenever possible. In Matthew 19:6, we read that two become one flesh. What God joined together, let no man separate. God wants those encouraging and heartfelt words you say at the beginning of your marriage to stay true throughout your life. However, God knows that this isn’t easy. Choosing the same person to love through years of new needs, responsibilities, joy, pains, and struggles requires more than we can give on our strength.
We need Jesus to be able to love each other well and faithfully. Here are some verses from the Bible on remaining faithful in your marriage and ways you can live out these verses every day.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
God’s spirit is alive in us and resembles living a life marked by the fruits of the Spirit. Living a life marked by the fruits of the Spirit is evidence that we follow Jesus. These are things that set us apart from the rest of the world. That proof includes being faithful to our commitments, beliefs, relationships, God and marriages.
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
We don’t have to be faithful through our strength. God knows we’ll face temptation. He also knows that life is filled with adversity, and darkness will attempt to lure us in with the lie of forbidden treasure. God inspires us but also reminds us that He is faithful. We can thwart any temptation common to this world because God is at work in our lives. He gives us the strength to stay loyal to our commitments.
“A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.” – Proverbs 28:20
Our faithfulness to living a committed and righteous life doesn’t go unnoticed by God. He promises that He will bless our efforts. God is happy when we choose to be truthful in our marriages.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9
The best part about marriage is that you’ll have a partner for the rest of your life. If you or your spouse fall short, the other will pick up the slack and help. However, this ideal only works if both partners are willing to stay faithful to the marriage. If one spouse falls short, but the other doesn’t want to pick up the slack, the marriage won’t work.
Ways you can be faithful to your spouse.
Staying faithful to your spouse requires more than not having an extramarital affair. It would be best if you were engaged, present, committed, loving, and willing to forgive repeatedly. The first thing you should do is be honest with each other. Honesty creates security within your relationship. Research shows that the number one problem for married couples is betrayal and trust.
Honesty guarantees that you’re living in an authentic shared reality with your spouse. You have to communicate with each other openly to avoid major betrayals, so you’re not blindsided by less significant ways that you fail to share truths with your spouse. Even issues like lacking clarity on how much you or your spouse enjoy some activities or hidden concerns about your spouse feel like a betrayal if they’re not shared openly.
Another way to stay faithful in your marriage is to prioritize each other. This advice might seem obvious, but if you’re honest, it’s not easy to live out. When life starts rolling, your spouse is the easiest thing to put at the end of your priority list. Friends have had numerous conversations about how long it’s been since they’ve had a date night with their spouse. Kids, work, not wanting to ask others to babysit, and busyness are common reasons why date nights go on hiatus. Letting uninterrupted time with your spouse fall by the wayside is lethal to your marriage. Everyone needs connection, kindness, affirmation, and love. The only way you can consistently receive and give these things in a marriage is to prioritize loving each other.
One final way to remain faithful in your marriage is to be willing and ready to forgive your spouse. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks the Lord how many times his brother will sin against him, and he forgives him. Will it be as many as seven times? Jesus replied, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Marriage is where you’ll be tested on your ability to live out this scripture. You must be willing to give undeserved forgiveness to your spouse daily, which isn’t easy to extend.
You have to be willing to forgive, not just for the big mess-ups, but what might be more challenging is forgiving each other for the small mistakes. For example, you’ll have to forgive your husband when he forgets to buy something at the store or when he forgets you have plans together. When you start holding secret resentments toward your spouse, the walls start going up in your marriage. Suddenly, the tiny things become more significant because you’re not only frustrated with the fact that they forgot to do the dishes today, but you’re upset about every time they’ve failed to help clean up throughout your marriage.
Think of your marriage as a living, breathing thing. It requires you to water, feed, nurture, tend to, and protect it from the elements. It only takes a short amount of neglect for decay to start showing. If you want to be faithful to your spouse, you must make the daily choice to pour into your relationship. Being loyal to your spouse is a daily task. Luckily, God promises to give you the strength necessary to help your marriage thrive.
