{"id":43971,"date":"2011-08-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/if-youre-married-god-is-your-spiritual-father-in-law\/"},"modified":"2011-08-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T00:00:00","slug":"if-youre-married-god-is-your-spiritual-father-in-law","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/if-youre-married-god-is-your-spiritual-father-in-law\/","title":{"rendered":"If You&#8217;re Married, God Is Your Spiritual Father-in-Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gary Thomas reminds Christians that if you&#39;re married, God is your &quot;spiritual Father-<em>in-law<\/em>.&quot; He writes:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>When I realized that I was married to <em>God&#39;s<\/em> daughter, everything changed in the way I viewed marriage. It was no longer about just me and one other person; it was very much a relationship with a passionately interested third partner.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Most of us fail to grasp just how fully God loves the person to whom we are married. As the father of three children, I fervently pray that each one will marry a spouse who will love them generously, respect them, and enjoy them. I realize that each of my children has certain quirks or limitations that may test a future spouse&#39;s patience, but I pray that their spouses will be kind in these areas rather than use them to belittle my children. I hope with all my heart that each will find a partner who will encourage them with a gracious spirit&hellip;. I know my kids aren&#39;t perfect&mdash;but I want them to have spouses who will love them despite their weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In the same way, God is fully aware of our spouse&#39;s limitations&mdash;and he is just as eager for us to be kind and generous with these faults as we are for our kids&#39; future spouses to be kind to them. By looking at my spouse through God&#39;s eyes, I invite God into my marriage.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3416,3823,3969,3988,4004,4196,4425,4858,5068,5255,5270,5285],"tax_ctp_topics":[390],"class_list":["post-43971","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-anniversary","tax_ctp_tags-divorce","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-fidelity","tax_ctp_tags-forbearance","tax_ctp_tags-husband","tax_ctp_tags-marriage","tax_ctp_tags-romantic-love","tax_ctp_tags-spouse","tax_ctp_tags-vows","tax_ctp_tags-weddings","tax_ctp_tags-wives"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>If You&#039;re Married, God Is Your Spiritual Father-in-Law - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/if-youre-married-god-is-your-spiritual-father-in-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If You&#039;re Married, God Is Your Spiritual Father-in-Law - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gary Thomas reminds Christians that if you&#039;re married, God is your &quot;spiritual Father-in-law.&quot; He writes: When I realized that I was married to God&#039;s daughter, everything changed in the way I viewed marriage. 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