🟫🟤🤎One of the expressions that strongly conveys the permanence of marriage until death and the need for spouses to indefatigably cleave to each other, even in the face of the fiercest odds, is the phrase, “For better, for worse.”
🟧That expression, “for better, for worse,” is a deep commitment to stand with your mate in times of prosperity as well as in times of adversity. Many biblical couples, like Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Isaac and Rebekah, demonstrated the commitment demanded by that four-word saying: “For better, for worse.”
🟫🟤🤎MARTIN LUTHER KING AND HIS WIFE, CORETTA SCOTT KING
One modern couple that demonstrated the spirit of “for better, for worse” is Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr.
🟩I first heard of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the late Chief Audu Ogbe in 1977, when he briefly taught us history at the Murtala College of Arts and Science, Makurdi, where he gave us copies of I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech.
💛After they got married in 1953, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, went neck-deep into the struggles and activism of the civil rights movement of those times.
🟢Just three years after their wedding, and with their first baby as the only new member of the family, their home was bombed by white supremacists. Coretta and her baby escaped only by the amazing providence of God.
🔵On the night of that bombing, the couple’s fathers came visiting and asked them to relocate, but Coretta would have none of that; she wanted to be by her husband’s side. That was a clear demonstration of “for better, for worse.”
🟫🟤🤎WHEN THINGS TURNED WORSE
Thereafter, their enemies poured threat after threat into their home through hate-filled phone calls and letters that came in by post.
🩷In fact, on a particular day, while her husband was away from home, Coretta received as many as forty threatening letters. Just imagine yourself receiving forty letters threatening the lives of you and your spouse, all in one day, in addition to many others that had come previously. Truly, many women would not be able to endure such a continuous barrage of threats against their lives and their husbands’ lives and still want to remain in that union. But Coretta stood firmly with her dear husband.
💚When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1964, Coretta stood by his side in Oslo, Norway.
🤍And then, in 1968, the worst happened: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
🩶In the face of that grave tragedy, Coretta remained true to her marriage vows of standing with her husband “for better, for worse.”
🟫🟤🤎A BOLD AND UNUSUAL STEP
On April 8, just four days after the assassination of her husband, she stepped out of her home, though she was still freshly grieving and her husband was yet unburied. She travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, to be part of a civil rights march.
🟧She courageously led the massive march and rally in his place, supporting the striking sanitation workers and continuing the work for which her husband had given his life.
🟫🟤🤎BUILDING HER HUSBAND’S LEGACIES
She later remained unmarried and went on to establish the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and campaign for the American government to declare Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday, observed nationwide on the third Monday of January every year.
♦️Mrs. Coretta Scott King demonstrated what it means to stand with one’s spouse “for better, for worse.” She did not just love her husband as a person; she loved what he loved, stood for what he stood for, and lived the rest of her life to establish her husband’s legacies.
🩷For many years now, and for many more to come, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Day will continue to keep her husband’s name in the American consciousness. These two things were accomplished single-handedly by his wife.
🟫🟤🤎NOBODY PRAYS FOR ADVERSITY
No one marries thinking of adversity. We, instead, look forward to the best: prosperity, promotion, etc. And indeed, we are not wrong to think that way.
🟦But the truth is that life is a mixture of the sweet and the not-so-sweet. We should have the maturity to see good in every adversity, stand with our spouse, and press on into victory.
🟫🟤🤎CONCLUSION: A WORD OF CAUTION
It is important to say this before we close. “For better, for worse” does not mean you should tolerate a husband who is beating you up and hitting you with any object he can find. No! Neither does it mean you should stay and allow your wife, who is threatening to cut off your manhood, to do it.
🟨The vow is “for better, for worse,” not “for worst.”
⬜“Worse” means external hardship such as grief, poverty, sudden loss of a job, etc.
🤎If your spouse is becoming “the worst”—dangerous and deadly to your life—please report them to your people, their people, and other key persons who are stakeholders in your life and marriage.
God bless you!🟤🤎
💕♥️🩷Tonight’s Bedroom Assignment:
Re-read this devotional together just before bedtime and discuss it with open and sincere hearts.
✝️Altar Call: Jesus Christ is calling you! Come to Him today in genuine repentance. Believe in Him and be saved!
🌡️🧪⚗️Scientific Info To Boost Your Marriage:
“Looking at a wife’s body daily can help couples grow closer. It builds trust and makes both partners feel safe. It may help lower interest in adult videos for some people. Real life intimacy builds natural bonds that fake media cannot match.”
🎷🪘🎙️🪗 HALLELUJAH!
📢PRAISE THE LORD!