Reward

Gen.29:²⁵ “Morning came: There was Leah in the marriage bed!” [MSG, with emphasis]

We teach our people [intending and already married couples], that when in marriage, the package [everything you see] is your portion. We teach our people acceptance. You accept the totality of the other person. Just accept it because in the morning it will always be Leah. You have to accept your lot in life because that is how it is. Three times in the Book of Ecclesiastes [3:22, 5:18 & 19], the Bible admonishes us to accept our lot in life.

So for people that jump from one relationship to another, from one bed to another, or from one marriage to another, in the morning it will always be Leah. That is why second and third marriages fail. In fact, the failure percentage is higher in the second and third marriages than in the first. Why? There is this blinding lie that when you jump into a second marriage everything will be perfect. Then you wake up in the morning and behold, it is Leah.  Leah is not chasing you; you just need to accept your lot in life and make it work.

A lot of newly wed couples do not get the Leah bit. Just remember today’s devotional. When you see Leah, the marriage has actually started. My point is this and it is key, God gave sex as a reward for the pursuit of a person. But the world has perverted sex and made it the pursuit of a feeling. When you pursue a feeling, you will have emptiness over and over again. But when you pursue a person, you have fulfillment over and over again.

And in the morning when you discover it is Leah, what do you do? You court Leah, you love Leah, you pamper Leah, you take Leah out, and you begin to pursue Leah. There are couples reading this today that have stopped pursuing their spouses. Even in the place of sexual intimacy, there is no pursuit and so the place of intimacy has become empty, void of fulfillment. Where there was intimacy, there is now only intensity. God gave sex as a reward for the pursuit of a person not for the pursuit of a feeling. When you reduce sex to the pursuit of a feeling, you sacrifice the reward.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, Lord breathe into my marriage and make it as God intended, heal our hearts and bind us together with love, in Jesus Name. Amen!