The Mystery of Marriage
photo by Karsten Paulick/Pixabay
Marriage purpose and mystery.
Marriage mystery? You have heard that phrase before?
When something is hard to understand, it’s a mystery. There is a mystery of marriage. In our human thinking, we could say that the purpose of marriage is for two people to be happy and fulfilled. In our humanness, we want to think marriage gives us identify, significance, and value. Does it? Should it?
Let’s see what God says about this. If you’re a believer, then you know that the place to go for instruction is God’s Word.
This we know about the mystery of marriage from the Word of God.
- the purpose of marriage is God’s glory and not personal attainment
- the idea for marriage between a man and a woman is God’s idea
- marriage represents Christ and His Bride, the church
- marriage should show others the love Jesus has for the Church
- the promises we make in our wedding vows are bigger than we are
- the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church
- the wife is to be subject to her husband as the church (the bride) is subject to Christ (the groom).
- husbands are to love sacrificially, giving everything to protect and keep their wives safe [example: Jesus died to save His Bride.]
- the husband is to love his wife as much as he loves himself
- the wife is to reverence her husband
Marriage promises
The vows we make during the wedding ceremony are life-long commitments. This means we will not run to warmer fires when things are tough. It means we will, instead, rehearse the faithfulness of God.
When He is faithful, we can be faithful, too. We are stewards of this beautiful mystery of marriage, and we need to steward well. Our actions and attitude toward marriage will draw others to Christ or push them away. When our spouse’s actions would lead us astray, we must choose to follow Christ and not our spouse.
In our vows, there are no words of condition. Instead, they are promises to be kept even if and even when others do not keep their vows. Jesus Christ models this for us, even today. That’s the beauty – and the mystery – of marriage.
Credit for the heart photo goes to Igor Shuben/Pixabay
