1. Timothy Keller
“When you ask your spouse to be your God, they will always fail you. No human being can bear the weight of being someone else’s ultimate source of joy, security, or identity.”
— The Meaning of Marriage
2. C.S. Lewis (paraphrased)
“If we ask of any human creature what only God can give, we demand of them what they cannot supply, and we ruin the relationship in the process.”
— Paraphrased from reflections in The Four Loves
3. Paul David Tripp
“No home, no spouse, no family can be the ultimate satisfaction for the human heart. When we try to make a god out of our marriage or our partner, we destroy both the marriage and the partner.”
— What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage
4. Henri Nouwen
“Expectation is the root of all heartache in human relationships when we confuse the finite love of a person with the infinite love of God. Your spouse is meant to be a companion on the journey, not the destination.”
— Reaching Out
5. Fr. Richard Rohr
“A marriage becomes mature when both partners realize that neither of them is the Savior. Once you stop demanding perfection from your spouse, you can finally begin to love them as they actually are.”
— Falling Upward