Customer Reviews

Devotions for a Sacred Marriage: A Year of Weekly Devotions for Couples

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My husband and I heard the author speak at our church (he was great) and picked up the devotional when we were there. We like it so much that I now order a copy to give as a gift every time I am invited to a bridal shower or wedding. This book focuses on God's word and gives couples a new way of looking at marriage. As the book says, we need to think about marriage not as a way to make ourselves happy, but as a way to grow closer to God as we love our spouses through the covenant of marriage.

Reading this devotional, I don't know which improved more--the depth of my marriage or the depth of my walk with God. Plowing through the dailiness of maintaining marital vows, I was reminded that our commitments at home (reinforced in Devotions for Sacred Parenting as well) are the venue for some of God's best refining work in our lives. The entries are a perfect length for a weekly devotional--although I often felt compelled to read ahead because of the quality of the original material the author produced for this book.

My wife and I have had Marriage Problems, and after reading "Sacred Influence" by the same Author, we now read this Devotional book every day, and are getting a lot of help with our Relationship for our ongoing happiness.
Both my wife and I highly recommend it to other couples!

My wife and I love this devotional. Gary Thomas has put together a collection of illustrations that reinforce biblical values in marriage. It has been a great conversation starter for us every Saturday morning.

This book is a great way to spend some time together with your spouse to develop a more God-centered marriage. It has brought new perspectives and views on issues that we wouldn't know otherwise (on our own). Definetly would recomend as a couple's activity. The devotions are short and sweet, perfect for a once-a-week study.

Even after reading the good reviews, I am still surprised how impressed I am with this devotional!! So far, it is very challenging. The author doesn't mince words, he gives it to you straight and his writing is not wishy washy, not your typical marriage book. The first few devotions set a good pace for the entire book. Very convicting. Only one devotion per week is great for this book because it gives time to mull over and contemplate the teachings, while putting them into practice. Don't wait to read this. If your spouse isn't interested in reading it with you, read it without them. It will open your eyes.

While the devotional is a helpful companion volume to the Sacred Marriage book, it is not as helpful as it might be - the once-a-week format and few reflection/discussion questions limits its usefulness.

I am a big fan of Gary Thomas' books, and I especially appreciated his "Sacred Marriage," which I consider the most foundational Christian marriage book (among many) that I've read. When I discovered this "Devotions for a Sacred Marriage," I was intrigued to see what Thomas might offer. Much to my delight, this collection is not simply a repackaging of the same material from "Sacred Marriage." Instead, this devotional contains all new material, though certainly aligned with the primary themes from "Sacred Marriage." Rather than recycling old content as a marketing tool to capitalize on a previously successful book, the devotions are fresh and actually further develop his initial ideas. And having already embraced the themes of "Sacred Marriage," I found Thomas' further ruminations to be similarly challenging and stimulating for thought and conversation.

My primary critique of the book is our inability to establish any sort of rhythm in reading through it. In contrast to most devotional books with their daily entries, there is only one devotion per week (and more substantial in nature than daily devotionals, too), intending to increase the likelihood that a couple might actually find the time to do it. And though I appreciate this idea in theory, we found in practice that we were never able to develop a weekly habit of reading this devotional together, since it wasn't regular enough to become a habit. So, it actually took us three or four years to make our way through this book, rather than one year as it was intended. Though I still appreciated what we read, any sense of continuity or momentum was lost in reading it so sparingly over the years.

Our lack of regularity notwithstanding, I still thought that "Devotions for a Sacred Marriage" was helpful. I'd definitely recommend that anyone interested in this devotional should read "Sacred Marriage" first. Otherwise, the devotions might seem a bit perplexing and even harsh, since the tone and main themes of "Sacred Marriage" are much more spiritually rich and genuinely challenging than the typical "101 Great Date Ideas" and "Tips for Better Communication" stuff that fills many Christian marriage books. But if you've wrestled with the significant implications from "Sacred Marriage," then these devotions have the potential to offer further ground to allow those ideas to shape and even transform your marriage to provide fertile soil for God to use your marriage to draw you closer to Him.

We are reading Sacred Marriage for our newly married small group, and while after only a few chapters, I purchased one for each of my siblings and my parents. I saw this at the same time and bought it then as well. Gary Thomas suggests starting this after Sacred Marriage is finished, but we started anyway. It is definitely building upon the themes and messages in the Sacred Marriage book and has some great couple devotionals.

Alongside Sacred Marriage this devotional is assisting my girlfriend & I grow closer as we move towards marriage