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Best Marriage Ever Devotional 25

by David Joynt on August 31, 2022


GENESIS 31:17-18 | 17 So Jacob arose and set his children and his wives on camels, 18 and he drove away all his livestock, all the property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

Jacob eventually becomes a devoted partner to both Rachel and Leah. They work through the painful competition and jealousy that the practice of bigamy breeds, as well as Jacob’s often overweening ambitions. If romance alone is not enough to sustain strong marriages, what is?

One classic answer is the four loves. Every strong marriage is built on the cultivation of these four aspects of love. The first is friendship, or philia. This includes developing common interests, clear communication, and patterns of investment of time and energy in common pursuits.

What makes your great friendships great?

Tags: friendships

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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