It is impossible, in my opinion, to have a good marriage without open communication. It is profitable to share our thoughts and feelings with those closest to us for many reasons. If we could learn to do this, we would avoid having small or insignificant things become big problems. One example that comes to mind is from our own experience. I never realized that my squeezing the toothpaste instead of rolling it was so bothersome to Jim until he mentioned it one day in the Tuesday Morning Bible Class that he used to teach. Had he shared that with me previously, I would have been happy to roll the toothpaste. I can assure you that whenever I use the toothpaste Jim uses, I make sure to roll it.

On a TV interview recently, a well-known pastor’s wife said that her husband refused to discuss their differences so she tried to suppress her feelings, but they kept cropping up. Most of the time, things pile up and suddenly they spill over resulting in either one or both losing his temper and saying hurtful things that can never be taken back. God’s will for all of us is to live in peace. When we are told to live peaceably with all men, it surely means to start with our own family.

When we were doing marriage counselling, many times the husbands or wives were shocked when their mates confessed what was really bothering them because they had never shared the problem with one another.

Before Jim started to understand Grace, he had a great deal of depression. Because he did not share what was troubling him, I assumed that he was sorry that he had married me and wished that he was married to the blonde from his home church. I finally went to him and told him how much I loved him and was willing to let him go and marry the blonde. More than anything else, I wanted him to be happy. That was a real breakthrough in our relationship, and he assured me that he could have married the blonde before he met me if he had loved her. What a difference it made in our marriage! When we had a problem, it was so great to discuss it and work it out.

There is no guarantee that all marriages or relationships will improve when we make an effort to get to know each other, but there is a better chance of that happening when we have open communication.

The Apostle Paul had a desire to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. We cannot be stable, or live the Christian life without that knowledge.