A well-known TV host of ‘One Flesh’ Marriage Ministry, Rev. Collins Edebiri, was the guest speaker at last Sunday’s Family Wisdom Service, held at Foundation Faith Church, Opposite UPE Junction, Sandfield, Borikiri, Port Harcourt.
Speaking on the theme: “I am sick of Love” which was Biblical, taken from the Songs of Solomon 5:2 9, he opined that the troubling situation in marriage and family must be prayed for, saying that there are two things that are lacking in relationship – passion and focus.
He said the world is full of people without passion, arguing that whether couples have been married for years or not, couples needed to have passion and focus. He likened such relationship to the passion some people have for football.
He queried, “does one have passion for football and not go to the field?”
He said, “if you believe in a thing you must profess and demonstrate it,” and asserted that marriages are going through strains because couples are not passionate about it, The Rev, further argued that people are driven by passion for what they believe in and are ready to die for it.
He illustrated this scenario with a case study, saying “if you are a man traveling by boat with your mother and wife and you row the boat and a wild storm threatens to kill all of you, the only escape route being to throw one of the two persons, your mother or wife into the water to stabilize the boat. The question then arises, who would you throw into the water, your mother or wife? In the question posed, whichever way you go trouble awaits you.”
He reiterated that, that was the crux of his message of that day, adding, “what makes the matter difficult was that most Christians believe in Jesus Christ but do not believe in their marriage.”
Continuing, he said if one has to struggle to take a decision on throwing the mother into the water, instead of his wife, then something is wrong with that person, a sign that the person is not passionate about his marriage and family.
Back to the theme, he averred that every human being longs to be loved and that not everyone is qualified to be loved.
Citing the case in Songs of Solomon where he got his message, he was of the opinion that the husband and wife so mentioned were not having the best of marriage.
“The Biblical woman was a believer in her marriage and wanted to keep same, in spite of the odds facing her, her bowels moved for the husband.
“More so, she was the aggrieved party in the marriage, yet for love sake decided to keep the marriage in spite of the fact that her husband by his behaviour was not a serious minded person.”
Summing up, he said in marriage, “the way you present your spouse matters. Some of the problems we have in marriage is that some spouse talk too much and the devil collects it to torment them.”
He questioned if we could die for one another, bear wounds, take insults, stop judging our spouses, Walk away from trouble?
He advised that we should let ourselves to be defrauded sometimes, to allow a success of our marriage.
The Rev, argued further that we have to qualify for love to seek love, but some look for someone to pamper them.
Turning to the singles, he asked, “do you have the capacity to give love, make yourself the kind of person you want? If you were to marry yourself will you marry yourself?” He advised them to work on themselves to be good materials for marriage and put away childish behaviours. ###
By Azuka Dibie
