23 Years of Sanctified Marriage

Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

Malachi 2:15

God brings husband and wife together. He makes two one. And Malachi tells us there is something deeply spiritual going on “with a portion of the Spirit in their union”. I am not sure of all that phrase means other than I do know that the Spirit of God hovered over the creation of the world. God’s Spirit must attend and guide and stay with each marriage bond as a couple enters into that relationship.

This verse also gives a “why” behind godly marriage: to produce godly kids. Holy marriages produce a generation of believers. And God desires that marriages do just this. There is a deep commitment to God, to one’s spouse, and to one’s children in God design for marriage.

God was upset with Judah for the casual profaning of the marriage covenant. Divorce was becoming easy. Casual infidelity seems to have been prevalent. It was destroying the future of any godly offspring. It was destroying what He had uniquely created. God equated a casual disregard for the marriage covenant with the worst sins of violence (see Mal 2:16).

Marriage is a holy place. I recently finished reading Gary Thomas: “Sacred Marriage”. I was struck by the reality that the goal of my marriage is not my happiness, nor is it the happiness of my wife. The goal of our marriage is holiness. Marriage is a path to sanctity. It is not just another indulgence in my selfishness.

Sunday June 14th, Joni and I will celebrate 23 years of marriage. I thank God for my wife. God has used her to change me, to encourage me, to make a real man of me. I would not be anything today without her wisdom and friendship. I know that God joined us together and I pray for our continued lifetime of mutual love and sanctity to continue. It is what gives my life so much perspective and purpose… God brought us together and made us one with a portion of His Spirit in our union.

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a different kind of love story.

Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.
Genesis 24:48

This is indeed a love story, but one with a much different focus than we normally tend to think about this time of the year. Abraham is incredibly old, he has lost his wife, and is concerned that his son Isaac marry the right woman. He binds his household manager to a solemn oath to find a wife for Isaac among Abraham's own kinsman. The servant knows this is a daunting and dangerous task, but does so.

When he arrives in the territory of Abraham's family, he realizes that the task must be divinely directed. You have to hand it to Abraham. He had instilled a vivid faith in the members of his household as evidenced in the servant's prayers to God. And God heard and answered them with the events that clearly made it apparent that Rebekah was an outstanding, caring, and hard-working young lady. Again, not at all like how we might think of a love story today, but she is the right woman because of her character.

The result was that God was worshiped in such a human matter as procuring a wife and arranging a marriage. Abraham's servant acknowledges God's direction in the provision of Rebekah. Her family recognizes the hand of God in the matter by letter her go to be the wife of Isaac. Rebekah follows God's clear direction by agreeing without hesitation to leave home and family and marry a man she has never even seen!

In the end two things usually at odds are perfectly harmonized. God is glorified by clearly leading in the matter and perfect obedience to Him yields a wonderful result. Secondly, Abraham got exactly what he desired for his son, showing that his desires and wants were in keeping with God's will. And Isaac and Rebekah seem to truly have found a remarkable love, as evidenced in her response to him and his willingness to take her as wife. All in all, quite the happy ending... at least for chapter twenty-four.

Technorati Tags: Genesis,Abraham,Isaac,Rebekah,Love,Marriage

Great Marriage Advice for any guy...

The Don't Song.

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God’s Design for Marriage

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:24-25

These two verses are commentary on God's design for marriage. The outline is not my own. I began utilizing it in counseling couples years ago... it comes to me courtesy of the ministry of Chuck Swindoll and Insight for Living. But it serves as a clear vision of marriage in an age where it is being brutally re-defined to mean virtually nothing.

This Creation commentary shows that God designed marriage between the opposite sexes. It involves one man and one woman. Any other attempt by any other group, no matter how disenfranchised it claims to be, is purely outside the divine design for marriage. It is the biblical teaching on marriage that counters the arguments of proponents of same-sex marriage.

Between the man and the woman, there are four important elements that help a marriage to thrive:

SEVERANCE. The text says a man leaves his father and mother. A new marriage creates a new family unit, and the relationship with the old family changes. If either partner in a marriage fails to "leave" emotionally or physically, and join fully in the new marriage, it is in trouble.

PERMANENCE. The marriage relationship is initiated with the call to "hold fast" to one another. The idea is to be joined together in a permanent fashion. This is not a temporary relationship. This is one reason why I will not perform a wedding ceremony in which a pre-nuptial agreement has been signed. That is nothing more than a commitment to "maybe". The design for marriage is for a man and wife to hold fast to one another.

UNITY. The two become "one flesh". There is more here than just a sexual reference. This new couple is the beginning of a new family unity. The definition of marriage is "oneness", which is why all their lives this newly married couple must strive to live as two people becoming one in their marriage. It is not easy. It is always challenging. It is wonderfully rewarding. And it is a lifelong unity that just gets better as two people stop going their own way, and head together into obedience to a loving God.

INTIMACY. The man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed. Interestingly, the first response of the two of them upon disobedience to God was to "feel naked" and ashamed and attempt to cover their bodies. In the way their marriage was originally created, they had absolute freedom to be themselves without shame. Sin disturbs this natural intimacy. Of course, a high expression of this in Christian marriage involves a satisfying sex life. But that is the result of the deepest intimacies of soul that two people share together. And I testify that in every respect, this intimacy gets better over the years and decades of commitment together.