Marriage As God Would Have It

Sometimes you feel as if the order of things has been turned upside down. The way 'things used to be' has changed in so many ways. One of these ways is how people think about marriage and the family. The Bible treats marriage between a man and woman as of the utmost importance. Jesus said: "(The Scriptures) record that from the beginning God made them male and female." And he said, "This explains why a man will leave his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." (Matthew 19:4-5, NLT) While in our increasingly secular and godless society people may reduce the value of marriage even as some were doing in the days Jesus lived on earth, Jesus himself and the rest of the New Testament show just what a strong and loving thing a good marriage is. The apostle Paul even used marriage as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church — a relationship of love, purity, caring and faithfulness. That is what a good marriage should be like. After quoting the verse at the top of the page, Paul says in Ephesians 5:33 "So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." Christian marriage is especially important today as it was in Paul's day, in order to show the non-Christian world the wonderful difference Jesus makes to a Christian home. The world needs to see that.

Prayer

Dear Lord, we thank you for marriage and for Christian homes. Make them examples of godliness, love and purity. Amen.