Men, wouldn’t it be great if there were a restaurant called “Wherever” or “I Don’t Know”? Then, when you ask your wife where she wants to eat, you’d have an easy answer on where to go. Ladies, how would you like a “Man Translator” so when you ask how work was and he says “Fine”, it tells you “Not so good today, I’m really beat.” Relationships are hard work. They take a lot of love and patience.

Love is important in your relationships because God is relational. God immediately recognized that Adam needed a mate. Marriage reflects God and his relational longing. God wants fellowship. We were made for fellowship, and that’s why it is so important that we reflect God in our relationships.

The love in a close relationship such as marriage needs to be an agape love - a love that is sacrificial and unconditional. Agape love is an act of the will, a purposeful love. It is not based on feelings. If a marriage is built on a love that is just about feelings, it will not last since feelings can quickly change.

In marriage, agape love works. It puts the other person’s wants and desires over your own. Marriage is when two people become one, and the one isn’t you.

The best way to begin to put this kind of love into practice is to start in close relationships and get it right there, and then let it spread out to other people. Love accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish because you work to achieve the accomplishment. Ask God to help you to work at having and showing this selfless, unconditional love in your relationships.