10 Commitments of Marriage

1. Thou shalt have no other human being before your husband or your wife. (Meaning: No other person should come before your mate - not father, mother, brother, sister, friend or acquaintance.)

2. Thou shalt put no thing before your husband or wife. (Meaning: You should put no thing between each other. No house, car, pleasure, money or fame-nothing.) 

3. Thou shalt not belittle, criticize or faultfind, but rather encourage your spouse in all ways. (Meaning: Since God's word teaches us to make no idols, it follows that we are to honor each other's name. Honor each other and seek to put each other first above any other person on earth.) 

4. Thou shalt remember her/his day, to keep it special. (Meaning: Set time aside for the two of you so you may not grow apart but even closer. Your spouse and your children are worthy of your time and your undivided attention.) 

5. Thou shalt give honor not only to your father and mother, but to those who become your father-in-law and mother-in-law. (Meaning: As you two become one, you marry into another family. Wise is the husband or wife who does not take it upon him/herself to find fault with those who are related to their spouse.) 

6. Thou shalt not destroy the spirit within your spouse. (Meaning: Husbands do not destroy your bride's dreams and hopes for the future that she now places in your hands. Most of man's earthly happiness depends upon his wife. Most assuredly God will bless a man in this life, yet John Wesley discovered that, regardless of a noble cause, a woman can make a man most miserable. Wife, covenant that you will not be such a person. Both of you must honor and build up the personhood of the other.) 

7. Thou shalt give your passions only to each other, not to another. (Meaning: You should not give away your passions to another in word, in thought, or in deed. This person beside whom you stand on your wedding day is to be your lover as well as your helpmate and your best friend.) 

8. Husband, steal not from your wife that which is her privilege to give. Wife, receive what he gives to you with gratitude. (Meaning: The spirit of gratitude can greatly bless a home. If your minds are filled with thoughts of gratitude, and if you look on that which you do have and not that which you do not have, you will be blessed.) 

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness to each other. (Meaning: Be honest with each other. Dishonesty and an unwillingness to talk through differences build a silent wall, which is not easily dismantled. The real self, then, refuses to be disclosed, and a couple may gradually begin to drift apart.) 

10. Thou shalt not seek greener pastures, whether they be those things physical or material. (Meaning: Do not engage in selfish fantasies. Be content with the one whom God has given to you, and God will bless your lives together.)