How to improve my marriage

In the early 1950s, Ray Robinson was working in Troy, Alabama with Goodyear.
The son of the woman who owned the boarding house where he was staying once
told Ray, "I have someone that I'd like for you to meet." He took him
across town to Troy State University and introduced him to a young lady from
Fort Deposit, Alabama who was studying to be a teacher. Her name: Louise
Moorer. Ray and Louise went on a date. Six months later they were married.

When Ray and Louise got married, Ray was on a two-week leave from the Air
Force. He was stationed at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. He drove down
from Illinois to Fort Deposit, got Louise, drove over to Mississippi -
because you could get married a lot more quickly there - and Ray married a
woman of noble character that would be his loving companion and closest
friend for 65 years.

Those 65 years brought them great joys and deep sorrows, including the loss
of a son, a daughter, and their one remaining son paralyzed from the waist
down in a car accident. But through it all, their love for one another and
their faith in God remained strong.

One evening after their 60th wedding anniversary, their granddaughter, Mary
Kent, asked Ray about the secret to a long and happy marriage. He looked at
her in the eyes and smiled. He said, "Oh, that one's easy. Just two words.
'Yes ma'am!'"

Reflecting on that moment, Mary Kent recently wrote: "I wish, in that
moment, he had been behind the camera to capture the sheepish smile that he
could still put on my grandmother's face after all those years. It was the
kind of smile that can only come out of the gratitude for being deeply and
unquestionably adored."

When Louise was diagnosed Alzheimer's disease late in her life, Ray stayed
by her side, caring for her, until she died. He would tell you he was only
reciprocating the loving care she had always provided for him.

The Bible instructs: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved
the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). How did Christ love
the church?

Selflessly: Jesus put the needs of others - our needs - above His own. Our
greatest need is salvation from sin. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and
died on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God through Him (1 Peter
2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

Sacrifically: He "gave Himself for her," Paul says. He purchased the church
with His own blood (Acts 20:28), for only His blood can cleanse us from sin
(1 John 1:7).

God will save from sin, add to the church, and give eternal life to those
who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in
repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and
are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light
of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Do you want to know what that looks
like? Consider the love of Ray Robinson for his dear wife, Louise. That
love is worthy of emulation.

Submit your life to Christ and love others like Christ loves you. I think
that's what Ray would tell us, for that is the way that he lived and loved.

-- David A. Sargent

* In loving memory of Raymond Kent Robinson, Sr. (6/4/1929 - 10/13/2021) and
Louise Moorer Robinson (2/25/1931 - 6/8/2017). Until we meet again.

David A. Sargent, Minister