What’s Marriage For?
1 Corinthians 6:17 (NKJV), “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” Let’s look in Mark 10:6-8 (AMP), “But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. 7 For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently, 8 And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.” Of course these scriptures reference the beginning of mankind from the book of Genesis. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we become one with Him. He becomes our husband, so to speak. What is marriage for? It’s to teach us about our covenant with the Lord, but if we look to the world for the example of marriage, we will not understand this.
Now, let’s look even further into this in Ephesians 5:30-32 (NKJV), “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” This is the highest form of covenant on earth. When a man marries a woman, the two go forward together as one. This is not just physical, but the two must also be united in mind and spirit. The two must live in agreement. This is why we’ve taught our children and our churches, that it matters who you marry. Who you marry becomes who you are. You become one and what one does affects the other.
Look at verse 33, “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Husbands, the way you love your wife is the way you love Jesus. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NKJV) tells us exactly what real love should look like, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” This is the way Jesus loves us! He gave Himself for us, His church, His bride. This is what a husband is supposed to represent to his wife. My husband loves me, so unconditionally, with all that is in him and he would do anything to see me protected, safe, and blessed. My husband lives for me and our children. He lives to love me.
Now look at the second half of Ephesians 5:33, “…let the wife see that she respects her husband.” This word respect means to honor, to fear the idea of displeasing out of true reverence, to treat with true respect. A godly wife will act and speak in such a way that her husband will be honored. I live to make my husband’s life better, I love to bring him respect. When someone looks at me, I want them to see how great a husband I have. Remember those old shampoo commercials, “if you don’t look good, we don’t look good”? A wife must be sober about that. If you don’t live in such a way that brings your husband respect and honor, you’re not being the blessing you were meant to be. This is how we are to look at Christ. He loves us and we reverence and honor Him with how we live and what we say. If we look good, He looks good.
True marriage is to be a blessing! Isn’t that awesome of God, that He would create the institution of marriage to teach us about our relationship with Him, but also to bless the socks off us!? Look at these scriptures: Proverbs 5:18 (NKJV), “Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 18:22 (NKJV ), He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.” Proverbs 31:10-11 (NKJV), “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.” The implication of all these scriptures is that a true marriage covenant will be a blessing. Marriage God’s way should cause us to rejoice! Marriage God’s way is favor, it’s valuable, it’s a good thing!!
Marriage is for us. It’s for us to know and understand the true covenant we enter into with the Lord. I tell you, my marriage is heaven on earth! We rejoice together, we trust and respect each other, and we greatly love one another. True godly marriage is a good thing! If you have a godly marriage, keep these things in remembrance always. If you don’t have it, believe Him for it!Psalms 37:3-4 (NKJV), “Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
Be Blessed,
Pastor Renee