Marriage is a relationship designed by God. He created mankind male and female and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and blessed them so that this could happen. Initially, when God created man he was alone and God said that was not good. He allowed man to discover his lack by bringing all the animals to him, but no counterpart for man was found. So God created woman from man and brought her to Him as a help fit for him. This relationship should be one of love. In it he is head, but at the same time they are one and this unity is physically expressed and realised in sexual intercourse. In this beautiful way mankind could be fruitful and multiply. In short that is God's blueprint for marriage.
However, mankind fell into sin and corrupted themselves, and also the marriage bond was affected. Two sin broken people were bound together by a permanent bond. The relationship was changed to one of dominance by the male over the female (Gen 3:16). Nevertheless, love for each other could make the changed circumstances bearable and even a source of joy for both parties (Song of Solomon) as the husband loved His wife as his own body (Eph 5:22-33).
Despite this marriage has been under attack ever since and today it is under attack as never before. Satan wants to destroy the unity of the family and destroy the role models of husband and wife, father and mother, parents and children because he knows his time is short. Society must be bent into a self destructing shape so that he can manipulate it with greater ease to oppose God and His good intentions with marriage. Although pressure groups, media and governments might not know it, they are serving his goals when they head in the current direction. It is the road to destruction.
Marriage in love between a man and a woman, is a beautiful thing. Love is meant to be permanent. We should, however, understand that word love differently than many do. Love in the Biblical sense does not mean that the other is always lovable and that you always feel loving toward them. It means that the two should seek the wellbeing of the other first, before their own. Love has to be mutual and where the one fails, or where both fail, love becomes apparent in the will to overcome the failings of the other for the mutual good. It is an act of will for restoration of the relationship.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)
True love never ends. Since the changes in the legislation of the past half century removed the legislative backing for the permanency of marriage and made divorce easy, true love is the only way that we can preserve our marriages.
These changes to marriage came in an atmosphere of falling away from Christianity and changing sexual mores. Sex outside of marriage was liberalised and perverted. Easy methods of contraception became readily available including the murder of the unborn. Marriages became more violent. Divorce was liberalised. Feminism developed. The portrayal of the nude body and sex in film and media was liberalised. Pornography grew exponentially. Where was true love in all this? This generalised hatred has brought us to the present state, where family breakup is rampant with all its consequences, where sexuality has been perverted, where marriage itself has to be perverted. God's intended shape for humanity is being done away with for the so called greater good of mankind, but it is the road to societal breakdown and destruction. Our good does not lie in the satisfaction of our base desires, as many claim, but in their restraint.
As Christians we are a light in a dark world. We are not perfect. We are sinners just like all the rest, but we are still a light. Despite our failings the world can see that our marriages are more robust. That our families are happier. That our lives are more stable. That we are blessed. These things are visible and it is not because we are any better, but because we follow our God and want to live our lives according to His will. That means we say no to ourselves. That may be hard and we may fail at times, but the general course of our lives is determined by God's will and that is blessed. Despite our many sins and shortcomings, also toward each other, God preserves us in this way for His glory. May this light shine in this dark world and may many see it and come to the light, which is God's word (Psalm 119:105), which is the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5,9).
