CONNUBILITY?

  ‘Shellies’ photo by Richard Andre Ingebrigsren CC BY-SA 3.0.

Definition:  relating to marriage or the relationship of a married couple.  And who is the most entertaining fish in your aquarium?  The ‘SHELLIES’!  You’d think it would be the beautifully colored fish normally associated with an aquarium.  But no, it’s the ‘SHELL DWELLERS’ or ‘SHELLIES’ as they are nicknamed.

(See photo above)  The bigger fish is the male).  These tiny, not so colorful fish constantly entertain their owners.  The female demands a perfect sized snail shell to live in for breeding and shelter.  And who gets to provide this shell?  It’s mate!  The male Shelli is bigger than the female, because it has to be able to not only find the perfect shell but carry it to a predetermined location.  The female is picky, but if she chooses his shell, well, you know what happens!!!

There are 24 different species of ‘Shell Dwellers’ mostly found in Lake Tanganyika in Africa.  The females are very small, .75 to 1 inch.  The males are only 1.5 to 2 inches.  Perfect for an aquarium. 

I wonder how many pause to think about the message these tiny fish carry.  Can we learn from the ‘devotion’ of the male to its mate?  In Genesis chapter one God commanded man to Be fruitful and increase in number’ just like these tiny fish!  Perhaps the message admonishes us as husbands to strive to find that ‘perfect shell’ for our wives.  A place for them to live, find shelter and breed!  After all, if you’ve been married for long, you realize the house is all about her!

In the book of Ephesians, The Apostle Paul gives us helpful instruction about marriage and its importance to God!   He writes, ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’.  Serve her like the tiny ‘Shellie’ serves its mate.  Especially since marriage is a foreshadow of the marriage of Christ and His bride, the church!!!

Paul continues: 

‘Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (As I already included.) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.’
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 
After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—

Obviously, our calling in marriage surpasses that of a ‘Shellie’, but they certainly are an inspiration!!!

There is a book I recommend for us men entitled, ‘Do Yourselves a Favor: Love Your Wife’.  The title says it all!!  Click on the authors name and it will take you to Amazon.com where it is available.

by  Dr. H. Page Williams  (Author)
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Over 500,000 copies sold worldwide! 

A new edition of one of the best-selling marriage maintenance books in publishing history. 

Here is a short but beefy little book written for men and the women who want to know how the men think. Its message, delivered with good humor and great insight, will transform troubled homes into vibrant and exciting places, and make stagnant marriages come alive! This is a truly practical manual for men who want to become who God intended them to be.

BE INSPIRED IN YOUR MARRIAGE!
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