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...the Bible tells me so:
Weddings Ahead
As spring approaches, many weddings are drawing near. Pass these words on to those whom you love.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 NIV). From the simple forms God made light, divisions in the sky, land, plants, sun, moon and stars, birds and fish, and land animals. And God saw that it was good. He created man on the sixth day and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
But God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (chapter 2:18). After causing the man to fall into a deep sleep, God took one of his ribs. With that rib, He made a woman. When God brought, her to the man, “the man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man’ ” (verse 23). “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (chapter 1:31).
Jesus Christ Himself teaches us about marriage. He said
“that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6).
So then, marriage was ordained by God from the very beginning. It is God’s will for two people who desire to marry to become united in body and soul in marriage. In marriage they can share the very same life for life.
Although people are present in a marriage ceremony, it is God Himself who joins two people together. Because of this, no one has the right to undo what God has done. But every marriage will last, just as He has intended, when the husband and wife continue to obey God’s will.
Marriage is a holy union. Consequently, it “should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). God has ordained that the sexual needs of a man and a woman are to be satisfied in marriage.
With marriage come responsibilities. Service to God is first. The greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). God must come first in marriage.
The words written by the apostles Paul and Peter deserve our fullest attention as they reveal the responsibilities of husbands and wives to each other. Of the husbands, they wrote,
· Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. (1 Peter 3:7)
· “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” Ephesians 5:25).
· “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (verses 28-29).
· “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself” (verse 33).
Of the wives, Paul and Peter wrote,
· “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (verses 22-23; see 1 Peter 3:1)
· “The wife must respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:33).
· “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.” (1 Peter 3:3-6)
The husband is the head of the wife. His leadership must never be domineering, but considerate, respectful, and especially, loving. Wives must submit themselves to their husbands, just as the church submits to Christ. Husbands must love their wives with a sacrificial love, just as Christ loves the church.
Love must permeate marriage, love for God and love for each other. Love is so much more than feeling. It is action. As the Scriptures say,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
If you keep these matters in mind, then God will make your marriage prosper. May God bless your love together throughout your lives.
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