Why Marriage is Hard

Any two people who enter into marriage are spiritually broken by sin, which among other things means to be self-centered...That is why a good marriage is more painfully hard to achieve than athletic or artistic prowess. Raw, natural talent does not enable you to play baseball as a pro or write great literature without enduring discipline and enormous work. Why would it be easy to live lovingly and well with another human being in light of what is profoundly wrong within our human nature? Indeed, many people who have mastered athletics and art have failed miserably at marriage. So the Biblical doctrine of sin explains why marriage--more than anything else that is good and important in this fallen world--is so painful and hard. -Tim and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage pp. 40-41