***A reflection of my thoughts as a whole of what scripture says***
Marriage
What God has been teaching me about His design is that the world has marriage backwards, so much so that relationships are either ruined or on their way to destruction. Marriage is not about self like you see in many of these marriage reality shows. It’s really about the coming together of male and female to become husband and wife. Each have their own role to play not against each other, but for one another.
God gives us many examples in the Bible about this very thing. He speaks about His people like a bride in the New Testament, but reading the Old Testament, He spoke of Israel like His wife. Eventually, the path to destruction was paved by Israel’s many times of turning their back on her husband, going after strange fire/idols.
Not to mention that sin had entered the world in Genesis, not to excuse the behaviour, but to recognize the stumbling block for what it is. However, God made a plan from the very beginning, nothing comes to Him as a surprise.
In Jeremiah, we learn that God divorced Israel - and yet as mentioned before, God still had a plan for Israel to come back to Him and also the world: John 3:16-17
It is through God that we know marriage, but the father of this world has turned this concept upside down, among many other truths. How does one have marriage when there is no relationship? It’s impossible. The two must come together as one, just as God is one and His people are one with Him.
Christian Marriages and Christian + Unsaved Marriage
There are many cries for help about the missing puzzle pieces in their marriage, but what is really missing I wonder… I think Paul says it best when dealing with this very matter. He helps both Christian marriages and Christian/non-Christian marriages in 1 Corinthians 7, granted there is a portion where Paul freely says “not from the Lord” and voices his own opinion as close to scripture as possible. This should still be considered since this is added in the Word of God, and I also believe Paul is telling us to just rely on God as much as possible because we don’t know or see all like God does.
An example of what I mean when I say Christian + unsaved marriage when a young Christian marries an unsaved person. These should not be condemned but rather prayed for and encourage in the hope that one day the unsaved will become saved.
God is to always be, not only the centre of marriage, but also in every aspect of one’s life, doing everything in faith.
