Bose-Dere Adelaja today August 13 in a Facebook post celebrates her 29-year-old union with Pastor Sunday Adelaja, Founder of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations. Kindly find below the piece
The Pursuit of a Great MarriageAdelaj’s barefootDedicated to our 29th (velvet) wedding anniversary
And again it’s a good time to reflect, confirm, and thank.
Today we have a new opportunity to thank the Trinity for its blessings on our family life for 29 years, and a time to reflect on how it all began and how far God has brought us, a time to reaffirm our faith and commitment to the principles of a Christian family.
Marriage is a challenging class that teaches you how to fit into the school of life and I’m happy I was given the opportunity to take some of the courses it offers.
They say that no marriage is perfect, because there are no two perfectly compatible people. Nevertheless, our family has had more happy days than bad days. I’ve learned to grow as a person and not be lost in my family, despite the pressure it brings and the changes it brings.
Marriage is supposed to change us, but for God, that is for the better. Thanks to God and a good environment, I can enjoy almost everything in my life including marriage and family. I am convinced that I have improved better in my relationship with others because of my experience in marriage.
We are Christ’s reflection
In life in general, and in the family in particular, we are the reflections of Christ. Christ brings two people of the opposite sex together in a marriage to make Himself more noticeable through them. Christian marriage is a union, a covenant of two different people who learn to unite and do many good things together, which they cannot do separately.
Cathy Keller, a writer and Christian theologian, defines Christian marriage as an apologetic tool—a visible window into the character and life of Christ, His work, and His salvation. It is Christ’s means of revelation, his instrument of repentance and forgiveness without manipulation.
She further explains that Christian marriage is one of the tools of the Gospel, a space in which the Holy Spirit supports and facilitates our efforts to overcome the sin of dominance and overdependence as the husband grows in his ability to serve with love (Eph. 5:25-29), and a wife in her ability to voluntarily obey (Flp. 2:5-7). Every person in marriage plays the role of Jesus.
*Ephesians 5:25-29 – “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, to sanctify and cleanse her with a bath of water, through the word, to present it to himself as a glorious church, without spot or flaw or anything like, but to be holy and without blemish.
Likewise, husbands should love their wives as their bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as the Lord does the church.”
*Philippians 2:5-7 -“Be in you the same mind as in Christ Jesus, who, being in the image of God, began not to be equal to God by stealing, but destroyed Himself in the form of a slave and coming in the likeness of men.”
Kathy’s late husband, Tim Keller, a Christian apologist, said a Christian marriage sets the foundation for a lifelong commitment of love between a man and a woman. It’s a tool to subdue individual impulses and interests for family, relationships, and growth in Christ (which is essentially character refinement). I would say that Christian marriage is an additional tool for growth in Christ.
Read also: Bose Adelaja talks about her life and ministry: https://churchtimesnigeria.net/bose-adelaja-life-ministry/
A covenant marriage
A covenant marriage is stronger, responsible, and stricter than any legal relationship. Covenant in Christian marriage is a dedication to Christ through dedication to the spouse/spouse regardless of sentiments. Christ continually gives us the power and grace to love as He loves.
John Newton, a slave trader turned activist for the abolition of slavery, said the greatest danger to a happy marriage is idolatry. We forget our real Spouse because our heart stops at our visible human spouse.
Singles also play the role of Jesus, remaining clean and wholehearted for Him despite the pressure to do differently. We are all brides, married or single, preparing to meet the Groom. Together we are the fullness of God’s glory.
Unmarried, unmarried, and unhappy married people exist to remind those in marriage that we are all engaged to our heavenly Groom. They are solely intended to correct us married people when we place too much importance on our marital happiness and not enough on our union with Christ.
As we celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary, I realize that the more important event is the marriage of the Lamb to the saints and that my present marital status is nothing but preparation for the Great Wedding with the Real Groom.
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. And it was allowed for her to clothe herself in a vision pure and bright; the vision is the righteousness of the saints. And the angel said to me, write: blessed are those summoned to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7-9).
To be honest, I’ve been lucky enough to be married for 29 years and while it’s very hard to fully grasp all the benefits and the sum of what we have before it’s taken away from us, I make an effort to count my blessings on a daily basis.
People around me
I celebrate my husband, our children, our in-laws, and our friends for all the good times our marriage and family have given us, also thankful for the “bad” times God uses to make us better people for humanity and His Kingdom.
I thank my immediate relatives and all the people who have contributed to my family’s well being especially those who continue to support and pray for us.
Grateful to all members of our church, past and present, dead and alive – God’s Blessed Kingdom Embassy to all nations. We are indebted to many years of prayers and investments in our family.
So let’s all single, single, and married and married use our marital status to God’s glory!
See you at the Big Wedding!
Thank you.13082023
