What Scissors Taught Me About Being Married by Bishop Funke Felix-Adejumo: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

A Pair

Amos 3:3 — Can two walk together except they agree?

Genesis 2:24 — Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

A pair of scissors is two things put together. That is what marriage is. Not four, not three — two. Two blades. One pair. Marriage was designed as Adam and Eve — not Adam and someone else. The union is a pair.

Something Holds It Together

Look closely at a pair of scissors — there is a screw, a bolt, that joins the two parts. Something has been bolted in to hold them together. If your marriage is going to be successful, something has to hold you both together.

The most important thing is God. God must sustain your home, your marriage. Sometimes you cannot see what is holding it together — but that is precisely what represents the strength of the scissors.

What holds your family together? Is it tradition? Culture? Fear? The word of God? God's word must be the bolt of your marriage. Without it, the two blades may look like scissors but they cannot cut anything.

Someone Must Be Holding It

Scissors are useless unless someone is holding them. No matter how sharp those blades are, they cannot cut anything lying on a table alone. God must hold your family. You and your spouse must also be attached to each other.

Be friends with your spouse. The day will come when your children leave — and what will remain is the friendship you have built with each other. Build now. Your children will leave very soon. Do not wake up in old age as strangers.

The last time you took your wife's hands and caressed her lovingly — when was that? The last time you kissed your spouse and said, "I will love you until Jesus returns"? The last time you stroked your husband's back and said, "You are great here in this house"? Intentional affection is the discipline of love.

One Side Sharp, One Side Not

Every pair of scissors has one side that is sharp and one side that is not. The same is true of every spouse. Every human being has a sharp side and a side that is not.

Psychologists have found that 94% of all couples worldwide are opposites. Even the remaining 6% are not exactly the same. This is design, not defect. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, and protect each other. Do not use your spouse's weaknesses against them. Do not expose your spouse's vulnerabilities to the world.

Neither Blade Can Work Effectively Alone

One blade of a scissors cannot cut. It needs the other. There is synergy. There is cooperation. Each blade moving in coordination with the other is what makes the cut possible. This is the picture of marriage.

When storms come — and storms will come — it is the intentional bond you have built that will hold. Hold your spouse. Become attached. Do not allow children, in-laws, ministry, or career to come between you. Even if the wedding was built on sand, the storms are still coming. There are at least 14 types of storm against a marriage. What will stand is what you have caught together.

Your spouse will offend you — he or she is human. Choose, again and again, to remain. That choice, repeated over time, is what marriage is.