Marriage Anchors

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  (1Peter 5:8 ESV)

From almost 40 years of ministry, I’ve learned an important principle regarding following Jesus and being His disciple. “Godly wisdom is learning to trust yourself less and less each day and learning to entrust yourself to your mate, if married, and to 1 or 2 good people of the same gender.”

The above Devil’s Triangle is a simplified strategy the Wicked One uses. Think of the inside of the triangle as one of those ‘Catch a Mouse Sticky Traps’ you put on the floor. Getting you hooked, stuck, or tempted to be drawn in via one angle or side is good. Yes! But he is crafty and often will employ several angles or sides to get you ensnared in deep bondage. He wants you in the middle of the trap. He wants you ruined and dead.

I have voluntarily been in a Foxhole Buddyrelationship since 1988 not because I’m super great and holy. It is because I am profoundly weak and I don’t trust myself. I want to be wise in my weakness, not foolish in my weakness. I’m in my 3^rd Buddy relationship now. Seth, married, and a father of 4, and I have either met in a restaurant or called weekly for 6 years. We’ve got each other’s back. The 4 pillar verses we uphold in confidence are: 

James 5:16

Hebrews 3:13

Galatians 6:2

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

If you are not in a grace-based, encouraging, accountable, and confidential same-gender relationship where you look out for each other’s Christian walk, thought life, marriage, priorities, fatigue levels, etc., then you are like the tied up goat in the first Jurassic Park movie: Lunch!

Let’s pray that each of us would get and keep a Foxhole Buddy for the honor of God and the protection of our witness for the Lord Jesus.           

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  (Galatians 6:2 ESV)