Marriage Is A Covenant

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

~1 Corinthians 13:4-8

My husband had this engraved on a leather wall plaque for me as a wedding present 18 years ago, and it has hung over our bed ever since. Over the years, our resolve to live out those words in our marriage has been tested but our love has never failed. 

The divorce rate is now 53%, including marriages among Christians. It seems people are too ready to give up, to go where life looks easy and fun. The problem with that is, life is never easy and the fun is short-lived. Whatever you don't find in your marriage now, you won't find in a relationship with someone else. Marriage is not 50/50, it's 100/100, 100% of the time. If you're only putting in 50%, you're cheating yourself and your spouse.

God never intended for marriage to be a part-time position. He designed marriage as a covenant contract between a husband, a wife, and Himself. The  covenant marriage is a bilateral agreement between parties with equal  privileges and responsibilities. God has likened marriage to the relationship between Christ and the Church, although that is not to say the husband is greater than the wife. The husband's responsibility is to both his wife and Christ, while the wife is responsible to her husband and God. Husband's are commanded to love their wives, while wives are commanded to respect their husbands (Ephesians 5:22-33).

"For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23)."

When both spouses realize that Christ is head of their marriage, and the marriage is a binding contract between spouses and God, the idea of the strength of the marriage begins to change. A cord of three is stronger than a twine of two.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)."

Read

Exodus 39-40

A Year of Blessings by Marie McGaha

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