Think Outside The Box Concerning Marriage

By Richard Szalecki

Have you taken into consideration the spiritual aspects of Christian marriage? There’s more significance to the Christian marriage than just the “I do’s”, going on the honeymoon and the day-to-day living that couples experience. “Think Outside the Box Concerning Marriage” breaks some new ground in giving understanding of the spiritual aspects of Christian marriage. First of all, God didn’t punish Adam and Eve for eating the forbidden fruit. God set Adam and Eve in right relationship with God and each other so neither of them would have an independent spirit from God and each other.

“Think Outside the Box Concerning Marriage” paints a beautiful picture of the spiritual aspect of Christian marriage. Ephesians 5 talks about it in detail. The key verse is Ephesians 5:21, “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God.” This flies in the face of traditional church teaching that the husband “wears the pants in the family.” The scripture in Ephesians 5 that the husband “wears the pants in the family”. Although the husband is noted as being the head of the wife, the assignment is more for responsibility and accountability toward God.

This book explains that Christian marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. The man is instructed to love his wife as Christ loved the church by loving it and giving Himself for it. The wife is instructed to reverence her husband. The passage proclaims that Christian marriage is a picture of the resurrected Christ, that we are of His flesh and of His bones.-Ephesians 5:30, Simplified KJV. This gives the marriage resurrected life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781973699873

Richard Szalecki

Richard Szalecki (pronounced, Sah-LEH-key) is a writer, and author and was host of a show on Facebook titles, “Love, Acceptance and Being Fully You.” “Think Outside the Box Concerning Marriage” is his third book. The first two books are, “Think Outside the Box”, a book about faith, and “Is my Father yet alive?”, a Bible Study book about Joseph in the Old Testament. “Think Outside the Box Concerning Marriage” concentrates on the spiritual aspects of marriage. “Rick has a great love for and working knowledge of the Word of God. The way he holds scripture allows him to hold points of connection between scriptures that have never been considered, As a result, deeper themes are uncovered, and the sacred text continues to reveal.”- Scott Veroneau, Senior Pastor, Community Life Church, Gulf Breeze, FL

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 Richard Szalecki.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

All scripture references are taken from the Simplified King James Version of

the Bible, copyright 2022 by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used with permission.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9986-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9987-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023910268

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/28/2023

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

A Picture Of Marriage

Back To Adam And Eve

Marriage’s Proper Alignment As Told In Ephesians 5

The Correct Thoughts On Marriage From Ephesians 5

Working It All Out In Marriage With Practicality

Restoring Communication

Be Prepared To Deal With The Issues

Who Can We Marry?

Marriage Is For Us To Put All Our Effort Into Now

Marriage Is Good And Honorable In All

What About Divorce?

Because Of Your Hardness Of Heart…

Completing My Story

Attribution

About Richard Szalecki

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is dedicated to my wife Cheryl along with my pastor, Scott Veroneau of Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida. I love them so much. They have been so supportive of me. I am also thankful for the presence of Community Life Church which is my home church. It is the best church I have ever been part of. You’re encouraging and a big blessing!

Rick has a great love for and working knowledge of the Word of God. The way he holds scripture allows him to discover points of connection between scripture that may have never been considered. As a result, deeper themes are uncovered and the sacred text continues to reveal.

Scott Veroneau / Lead Pastor

Community Life Church

PREFACE

I was interested in writing this book on marriage in mid-December 2022. I was home alone. I texted an outline for my book to my pastor, Scott Veroneau of Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He texted me back and said, This book is ready to go as-is! That was quite the encouragement! I told him I had to add some things to the book to fill it out. This is the final product.

It’s exciting when someone looks over an outline and says it is a book as-is. It’s a big boost of confidence to me. My heart is to share the spiritual aspects of marriage. It think it’s really important to share the proper role of Adam and Eve and also incorporate the truth that the husband and wife are to serve each other in the marriage relationship. I explain how marriage is a picture of Christ and the church. I also talk about how important communication is in marriage.

Couples of every age group can grow in their commitments and relationships by applying the principles of this book.

INTRODUCTION

Marriage is a mystery! I have said amusingly that it’s time to divorce when you figure out the mystery.

Marriage is a RELATIONSHIP OF COMMITMENT and a LOVE RELATIONSHIP including cohabitation between a man and a woman. The ceremony itself, the engagement and courtship periods leading up to it are exciting. Then there is the honeymoon after the wedding ceremony. It’s all exciting. I remember my father remarrying at 72 years old.