God's Word gives us five steps to cultivating a winning attitude in marriage (and in life). Here's step two:
2. Identify your spouse’s positive characteristics
Take a look with me at 2 Peter 3:1, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” You see, it goes totally against our sinful nature to be positive and focus on the good - which is why the apostle Peter wrote to stimulate wholesome thinking. This blog post is my attempt to stimulate wholesome thinking about your spouse. It doesn’t come natural so we’ve got to work on it. How do we do that?
The answer is found in Philippians 4:8 which says “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Below is a link to a worksheet based off Philippians 4:8 that will help you identify your spouse's positive character qualities. Regardless of whether your marriage is in a good or bad season, go ahead and fill this out. Ask God to bring to your mind all the positive things about your spouse, and then write them down. If you can’t think of anything, then enlist the help of your children (if you have any). Say to them: Would you tell me the things you like about your father/mother, the things you appreciate and admire? This will help you to identify your spouse’s positive character qualities AND will help stimulate wholesome thinking about your spouse (instead of negative thinking).
2. Identify your spouse’s positive characteristics
Take a look with me at 2 Peter 3:1, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” You see, it goes totally against our sinful nature to be positive and focus on the good - which is why the apostle Peter wrote to stimulate wholesome thinking. This blog post is my attempt to stimulate wholesome thinking about your spouse. It doesn’t come natural so we’ve got to work on it. How do we do that?
The answer is found in Philippians 4:8 which says “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Below is a link to a worksheet based off Philippians 4:8 that will help you identify your spouse's positive character qualities. Regardless of whether your marriage is in a good or bad season, go ahead and fill this out. Ask God to bring to your mind all the positive things about your spouse, and then write them down. If you can’t think of anything, then enlist the help of your children (if you have any). Say to them: Would you tell me the things you like about your father/mother, the things you appreciate and admire? This will help you to identify your spouse’s positive character qualities AND will help stimulate wholesome thinking about your spouse (instead of negative thinking).
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