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Some marriages start on the wrong foot. In Stuart, Fl., a bride allegedly hit the groom with the wedding cake and kicked him when he was on the floor during an argument after their St. Patrick’s Day wedding.
After being charged with battery, Kathryn Marie Patrick was released on a $5,000 bond from the Martin County jail. Brett Patrick and his new wife argued after they arrived home from their wedding.
He had bruises, scratches, and icing on his body, according to the police report.
As the scriptures say, “Do not allow the sun to set before anger is resolved.”[1]
It has become increasingly easier to discard a marriage in our culture. The breakup of families affects everyone. Marriage is not for the feeble of mind! Only the Lord of the house can keep a home together. In this age of “living together” and all-too-common divorce, biblical marriage is something to be celebrated.
The Bible teaches that marriage is a lifelong commitment of a man and a woman in a covenant relationship. There is no social institution more sacred than that of the home. Marriage is the first institution created by God and remains the holiest of all earthly relationships.
Every marriage not only needs lifelong commitment but unbreakable unity. Our Lord declared that a man should leave his father and mother and unite with his wife to build a home, and the two shall become one flesh. A husband and wife are making a lasting union that shall endure for the remainder of their lives.
Christian marriage between a man and woman is one of the most fulfilling means of companionship. When companions share a sorrow, the sorrow is halved, and when they share joy, the joy is doubled. Marriage is companionship and partnership, which involves mutual commitment and responsibility. When a couple believes marriage is more about self-fulfillment than self-denial it will soon self-destruct.
In Ephesians chapter 5, verses 32-33, the Bible says, “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband”. Now, what is the point of the text? We cannot fully explain it because the Bible says it is a “mystery.” However, the Church is the bride. Just like in marriage, a husband and wife become one. They are united together; the Church is connected with the Lord. Christian marriages are to be radically different from the world.
The Cross gives marriage its most profound meaning. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:25 KJV). God’s design for marriage in the Bible pictures the husband loving his wife, the way Christ loves the Church, and the wife reacting to her husband, the way the Church should respond to Christ. Every Christian marriage is supposed to be a portrait of Christ and His Bride, the Church.
[1] adapted from Terry Austin, Leadership, June/July 2001
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