The other day my wife and I had a disagreement about a issue caused by miscommunication. In the heat of the moment we both were very upset with one another and we both made statements that were unnecessary. After I apologized, and she forgave me also apologizing for her role in the argument, we both looked at each other saying, “What were we even arguing about?”
It is so easy to forget things when emotions start raging. My wife and I have made it a rule that after having an argument to go back to God’s word to refresh ourselves to why he created marriage. It is these reminders that help us to press pass hard points in our marriage and remember the purpose of it.
Gary Thomas, the author of Sacred Marriage, explains in his book, “God did not create marriage just to give us a pleasant means of repopulating the world and providing a steady societal institution to raise children. He planted marriage among humans as yet another signpost pointing to His own eternal, spiritual existence.”
Everything we do is first for the glory of God. He then goes on to say, “How can we use the challenges, joys, struggles and celebrations of marriage to draw close to God? What if God designed marriage to make us both happy and holy?
Here is what the bible says about God’s purpose of marriage.
- Companionship: “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” (Genesis 2:18, NLT)
- Godly Children: “Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to your wife of your youth.” (Malachi 2:15, NLT)
- Reflect and Glorify God: “As the scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his Father and Mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.” (Ephesians 5:31-32, NLT)
John piper states, “The most ultimate thing we can say about marriage is that it exists for God’s glory. That is, it exists to display God. Now [after looking at the passage in Ephesians] we can see how: Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to the church. And therefore the highest meaning and most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists.
- Sexual Fulfillment: “The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.” (1 Corinthians 7:3-4, NLT)
- Sanctification: “For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot for wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. (Ephesians 5:25-27, NLT)
“For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24, NLT)
Reb Bradley breaks it down so well by saying, “God’s primary intention for marriage, is not what most of us imagine it to be. He has not designed marriage as a place where we can finally try to get our needs met [through a functional purpose or fashioned marriage merely as an illustration]. He has created it as something much better –something far grander than that. God intends to use marriage to accomplish a very important goal – one that is His primary goal for all Christians. God’s primary purpose for marriage is to use it to help shape us into the image of His Son.
BMWK, are you aware of the purpose for your marriage?