Gary Thomas has a helpful article over at Marriage Partnership on living with an imperfect spouse. Gary writes:

“Even if I’ve never met you, I know one thing is true about you: you’re married to an imperfect mate. And here’s the spiritual reality that flows from this difficult truth: even though our mate disappoints us and hurts us, the Bible still calls us to respect and appreciate our imperfect spouse. This is true whether you’re a husband (1 Peter 3:7) or a wife (Ephesians 5:33) . . . How can we honestly and sincerely respect and appreciate someone who is so imperfect?”

Gary offers the following seven suggestions. You can read the whole article here for a more in-depth explanation of each suggestion.

1. Accept the reality of human relationships.
2. Accept the reality of human marriage.
3. Accept the reality of your own sin.
4. Accept the call to praiseworthy thinking.
5. Accept the biblical call to respect.
6. Form your heart through prayer.
7. Ask God to change you.

There is no such thing as a perfect marriage, because there are no perfect people. If you are going through a difficult time in your marriage right now, I hope this article is an encouragement to you. Knowing my own imperfections, I need to pass this article on for my wife to read. She is the one who has to live with me after all!