When a bottle is empty, it has no identity. It is just an empty space, but fill it with coke and it becomes a bottle of coke. Fill it with clean water, it becomes a bottle of clean water, with dirty water, a bottle of dirty water. The content gives the bottle its identity.

This is how I believe marriage is. I hear people make statements like marriage is good or marriage is bad. I think marriage is like an empty bottle and depending on the kind of people that are put in it, it becomes either a good or a bad marriage.

However, a good marriage goes beyond having two good people or two people who are “in love” as we know love today. These set of people do not make a good marriage. A good marriage is made up of two people who are committed to each other. People who are committed to the cause. People who are committed to having a successful marriage to the end. People who understand that the road may not be easy, that there will be ups and downs but they are committed to seeing it through. People who understand that being committed means the same thing as being “in love”.

Let us explore what real love is from the One who is called love.

Jesus said “if you love me, keep my commandments”

John 14:15 (NKJV)

For God so loved the word that He gave His only begotten son.

John 3:16a (NKJV)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, LOVE NEVER FAILS!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

In the scriptures highlighted above, particularly the last one, did you notice that Love is a verb? It is an action. Love is either doing or not doing. That is commitment and with commitment, love never fails.

The best way to express love is through our commitment.

Back to our bottles. In marriage, the man, a full bottle of let’s say Coke is expected to marry a woman, a full bottle of Fanta. (full by means of all their life’s experiences that have formed the single persons they have become). And they are expected to become ONE full bottle. This can only be possible if they both pour out half their bottles by putting away some of their views, strongly held opinions, and sometimes even some friends, to accommodate their spouse’s.

When they join together, it will no longer be a bottle of coke or fanta, it will be a completely different flavour called “Their Own Marriage”

If you are on your marriage walk or you are about to proceed on this journey, we hope that our posts on marriage will help you on your journey and keep you on the right path.

We love to hear from you so please share your thoughts on the post with us and tell a friend.

5 Comments

  • Affiong John Abakasanga

    Excellent analysis with the coke- fanta bottles. Marriage that will last requires 2 selfless individuals who have surrendered their will to God, and allow God to take the lead. I have been so blessed by these marriage series. God bless you my Pastors and have a lovely weekend.

  • Emmanuel Nwaneri

    Brilliant analogy of empty bottles. Very accurate considering marriage is the only institution where u get a certificate b4 u are actually tested. Keep it up guys. We feel you.

  • Edidiong James

    Thank you for this Coke-bottle analogy, this shows tht for our marriage to be fun, we have to work it. We have to fill our “empty” bottles with the kind of “content’ we desire.

  • Uduakobong Akpan

    Absolutely beautiful analogy with the Coke and Fanta bottles! Your comments about discarding a part of ourselves in order to commit to marriage speaks of a price that many are not willing to pay today. There’s too much self-love in the world today.

    Speaking about love, there’s a raw honesty that I think helps a marriage work. My sister-in-law shared a story about something that happened on one occasion sometime in her marriage. Her husband and her had an argument and just as they got home, she said to her husband “I hate you!”, her husband looked at her and said “I hate you too!” and then they just busted out laughing. They’ve now been married for over 20 years. I find that the best marriages have that mix of honesty and humor that helps in holding the marriage together. The couple are unpretentious towards each other but still cleave to each other in love.

  • mercyikot

    I just love this analogy! Very explicitly explained! Thank you so much, I am sharing this interesting piece with majority of my friends planning to enter marriage…best to learn this before entering.

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