What the Bible Says About Marriage, Pt. 2
In the first post we looked at the creation of woman and how she was made for man. As part of a refresher and to further prove the point, Jesus also acknowledges this scripture in Matthew 19:4-6:
4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.' 5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
Kelsey and I often catch ourselves in our daily lives saying things like "My kid will have a mohawk" or "He was the best man at my wedding" or "Can you hand me my camera?," and one of us usually stops and corrects that statement with "our kid" or "our wedding" or "our camera." We are big believers in the verse above. We are no longer two but one. When we said our wedding vows, we promised to be one unit. It was no longer my student loan debt that needed to be paid off, it was our student loan debt.
Accepting this thinking is key to a unified marriage, and I can only imagine that it's going to be an even bigger factor when we have kids. If we as parents are not on the same team, then how can we expect the whole family to be on the same team?
Another way we can keep our marriage strong is to give honor to it. Hebrews 19:4-6 says:
4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. 5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
Honoring the commitment we made when we were married is crucial to the trust that we have in one another. It also strengthens the unity of us as one. I like how "don't love money" part comes right after that. As a married adult, these are two areas of focus in our home. We know that money causes a lot of fights in marriages, so openly talking about it helps. And the last part of the passage reminds us that we shall fear nothing, for the Lord is with us always.
Understanding that God should be the No. 1 focus in our marriage has freed us from ever idolizing each other. Not that either of us is worth idolizing, but you know what I mean, right? I see this with teenagers quite often, where they are so obsessed with their girlfriend or boyfriend that it consumes their entire life, leaving little room for God. We are always reminding ourselves of priorities to help keep the perspective.
Do you have any thoughts on the above passages?
Other posts in this series