Have you ever known someone who was afraid of commitment? Perhaps when his or her relationship starts to get more serious, and conversations about marriage come up, suddenly this person gets “cold feet” and quickly jumps out of the relationship. The relationship was great, but an increase of commitment is not what they wanted from it. Something similar can happen in people’s spiritual lives...

Have you ever watched 7-year-olds at a recreational soccer game? You get a bunch of kids out on the field and what generally happens is they all try to go after the ball, regardless of what position on the field they were supposed to be playing - defense, midfield, or forward - it does not matter: They all just charge toward the ball. However, as the kids get older, they learn more about the game, gain more self-control, and get better at staying in their assigned positions..

Imagine for a moment a basketball team in which each member was trying to gain all the glory for themselves and saw the other players on their team as competitors. No matter how skilled those individual players were, the team would lose. For a basketball team to succeed, the individual players must work together, coordinate, and pass the ball. When they work as a team, they can overcome anything. The same is true in marriage...