- Improve your communication, continued:
- Be kind and courteous, continued:
- God commands us to be king (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:32). Shouldn’t we exercise this within our marriage?
- Dr. John Gottman is able to predict the likelihood of divorce in a marriage based on a 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions.
- “I’m sorry” – Luke 15:21
- “I forgive you” – Matthew 6:14-15
- “Please” – Acts 26:3; Nehemiah 5:10-11
- “Thank you” – Luke 17:16
- “Good job” – Proverbs 31:28-29
- “I love you” – Song of Solomon 1:7
- Communication techniques
- Write it out
- Allow time for a break
- Use the “speaker/listener” technique
- Are there any words or methods that are absolutely off-limits?
- “I told you so.”
- Cuss words – Ephesians 4:29
- Threats of divorce
- One-upping
- Name-calling
- Stonewalling / silent treatment
- Be kind and courteous, continued:
- Parents: radically commit to tender love and tough love
- God is the perfect example of tender love and tough love. We ought to try to imitate him.
- Employ a radical amount of tender love
- God expresses His love through action – John 3:16
- We should also express love through action – I John 3:16-18
- We need to recognize that it’s one thing to say we love our children, it’s another thing to show
- Parents ought to provide the basic necessities of life.
DW
October 23, 2016
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