Marriage and God
“Will you love her, honor her, comfort her, and keep her in sickness and in health; forsaking all others, be true to her as long as you both shall live? … to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” – Traditional Wedding Vows
(Cynical, & logical aspect speaking…)
Till death… do us part. That’s an awfully long, long time. What’s the average lifespan of a human again? I know it depends upon where you live and your lifestyle, but still that’s a while. So what ?
When we get into a relationship, most of the time we look for someone who we are compatible with, someone who makes us laugh and enjoy being round. But come on, people change. Who’s to say that anyone would still get the same treatment after a couple of years or so? What guarantee do I have after I marry someone that I will be happy? I’ll tell you, none… none whatsoever.
So what reason do we have to get married? Sex, nah, I think our culture shows that marriage isn’t necessary for you to get sex. Healthy for the mind and soul? probably not, but that’s going off on a tangent. Loneliness? HA! If you think following emotions are gonna help, think again. What are you going to do when your thoughts hop between I-love-you-I-hate-you and back? Money? Power? Good looks? hahaha, if you think those things are going to last, think again. Money can be lost, same goes for power… and as for good looks, it’s called… aging.
So yeah, the logical cynic within me agrees that all the above reasons don’t validate committing to a single person for the rest of your life. Maybe you might have some ideas that my cynic missed, feel free to interject anything that comes to mind…
So let’s take a look at what the WORD has to say…
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” – Mark 10:6-9 NIV
Jesus had some choice words about divorce. God made marriage to be a lifelong commitment: “What God has joined together, let man not seperate.” No matter what we humans think… God chose marriage to be lifelong. When a man and a woman are united, they become “one flesh.” In other words, your spouse becomes like your right arm. Needless to say, no one appreciates losing their right arm at any point in time. We were made to be companions for each other, marriage is making a commitment to be companions… for life. But still… How will I know when this is a “right” person for me?
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there betweeen Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:”I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” – 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 NIV
It has be a christian. That much is apparent. But when you read the last line, you notice how God-centered Christians should be. We aren’t just followers of Jesus, but we are “the temple of the living God.” When I think of a temple, I think of a place dedicated to the glory of God. If each of the people in this relationship are dedicated to the glory of God… I think it’s a pretty logical leap to say that the relationship is a way to glorify God as well.
Wives, submit to your husbands as 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 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. – Ephesians 5:22-28
What do you think? Besides for a God-centered marriage, any other good reasons to tie two people together for life?
== EDIT ==
Any praise/worship leaders out there, nahyujahmajah would like a word with you…
eh…how about procreation? I remember in Gen 2, after God made Adam and Eve, He told them to go multiply and fill the earth. 😉 Sammy, babies are real cute too. hehehe..
Standing applause !! I like this. Haha256. I can agree more, so many today have a misconception of what love and marriage. The influences of movies and novels. The physical changes, the emotion loses strength but relationship based on the Rock shall not be shaken. A God-Centred relationship holds steadfast in times of a storm. I love what JOy Dawson say once..
“There are three types of union:physical, emotional and Spiritual. The highest is spiritual, union in spiritual which covers heart and emotional of the two.” 🙂
“He who lives his wife loves himself” — I found a typo! hehehe 🙂
“Besides for a God-centered marriage, any other good reasons to tie two people together for life?” — First, it’s for love.. it is what we were created to do. Second, it’s to avoid plucking out that eye (or other body parts) that’s keeps one recklessly sinning by marrying another so that sexual sin will be controlled within the law of God.
How’s that? 🙂 Great post ha256!!
Way to go!
I’m impressed…
Thank u for reminding and reiterating on marriage from the Word…especially from 2 Corinthians…it’s not only helpful, but encouraging too.
You go..4 Him!! 🙂
Why should knowing someone be equivalent to a catagory :)? Take it as a complement; you’re an individual, not readily “catagorized”, as you say.
I believe that your spouse is a good complement to you– where you are strong, they are weak, so together, you are stronger than you could ever be alone. You worship God better, you love God more because of that person, and you impact more people together than alone. Sounds like a good plan to me :). Lord bless.
Marriage is often misunderstood; that’s why so many of them fail. Marriage is all about fun.
Yay, what a great reminder. 🙂 We need to remind each other and ourselves of our vows, not just to our spouses but also to God. Love = commitment.
Yeah.
Marriages these days aren’t what they should be. It’s because divorce is so easy to come by…. People are getting lazy and impatient. They aren’t willing to put in those moments to try and work things out.
It would be better if they got rid of divorce. See how much people would think about marriage then, huh? haha Of course, it would be in the duty of BOTH to try and work things out. I think a lot of the time that’s the problem. Only one person tries.
🙂
very thought provoking and well written entry here..thanks 🙂 everything for the sake of LOVE…
very thought provoking and well written entry here..thanks 🙂 everything for the sake of LOVE…
Good reasons to marry?
“Two are better than one, b/c they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecc 4:9-12) I don’t think this is specifically talking about marriage but I think it applies.
I think marriage is meant to be one of if not the most stable relationship we can have. Sure, people change, and that sometimes makes it hard. But when we make the commitment to love someone, not just in emotion and words but in action, we provide (and hopefully receive) a stability and security few if any other relationships provide. Because there’s a promise behind it. I think we need that kind of security and commitment of love from other people and perhaps we need to give it, too.
I don’t think marriage is for everyone. But it has it’s place, and, like pingchiehgrace said, not everything changes for the worse.
u rock
good thoughts… good post
wow .. ur entry is so long……. i stopped like 75% of the way =X
but! i wanna comment on “What guarantee do I have after I marry someone that I will be happy? I’ll tell you, none… none whatsoever”
hehe…i think…..=X if u marry the person…u are happy with them as of right now right? but who knows.. if those people would change…. if those people just became more boring..then u still can be saved =X u just have to think of new ideas to freshen up the relationship 😀 but if those people like use drugs.. and u never knew that…. u can try to help them get thru it…(that is if they let u) and it helps u both ways… save the person u love! and also take their butt outaa a hole :-P~ haha.. i might not make sense! but i understand what Immmm saying… do u understand my weirdness ~ 😀