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IS YOUR MARRIAGE ON A FIRM FOUNDATION?
Read Genesis 2:1-25 (key verse 24).
God's creative work designed marriage to be a committed partnership - an arrangement the dictionary describes as "an association of persons for a common interest", and that common interest must be love and companionship. God treats this special partnership seriously and describes it as "the two becoming one". Without understanding, compassion and compromise that would be impossible.
Read Ezra 9:1-15 (key verse 2).
Marriage should be spiritual as well as an emotional and physical union. Some Israelites married unbelievers and lost track of God's purpose in their lives.
Read Matthew 5:31,32.
With an escalating divorce rate it is evident that many find it easier to leave marriage rather than work to restore it. Society imposes an individualistic attitude on people (be your own man or woman) and the traditional need to be in partnership, especially one where there needs to be give and take, is no longer fashionable. Like all good things, marriage needs to be worked at - it doesn't just happen - any more than our prowess at sport or artistic pursuits.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
This wonderful chapter about love draws attention to many of those attributes of a loving relationship - patience, kindness, truth, protection, trust, perseverance. And they remind us of situations when those attributes are under threat, times when envy, pride, lack of submission and inattentiveness will put great strain on the relationship.
Read Ephesians 5:21-33 (key verses 32,33).
Marriage also requires submission. This passage of scripture is so often misunderstood as it does not necessarily take account of cultural changes. In marriage, both husband and wife are called to submit. For the wife, this means following her husbands SPIRITUAL leadership. The husband is required to put aside his own interests in order to CARE FOR HIS WIFE. It does not require the wife to be a doormat nor the husband a dictator.
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