In today’s society, there are many relative standards. One of the most widely held standards is that one must not tell another that they are wrong. Explore choices, but don’t say, “That is wrong … unless someone is about to walk in front of a truck or touch a hot stove.”
Let us now suppose that Jesus is real and is the Truth standard. For some, this is a stretch, but there are very good reasons for accepting this, which we will not get into at this moment.
If Jesus is the Truth, then he must of necessity be the Way to God and the Life of God lived among us. If Jesus is the Truth, then all he said is true.
There are some who regulate speech according to what appears hateful. And they would ban Jesus almost outright, though he surely is the most gentle man ever to walk the face of the earth. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. … Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.” (Luke 14:26; John 15:23)
There is something about Jesus that calls for absolute allegiance. Either Jesus and His Father or your father, your mother, your wife, children, brothers, sisters, your life.
There is a song, “Take the whole world, but give me Jesus.” That is exactly what this is about. Jesus is worth more than the entire universe.
He is your access to God.
He is your only real hope for a meaningful life that endures.
He is the One you can trust without reservation.
He is the One you can receive love from without any sort of unkindness from Him.
Jesus is.
What relationship on earth in the West is regarded as loving more marriage? These days you will find people trying to marry all varieties of things: pets have had weddings officiated with them (not that the animals respected the vows); a woman tried to marry a French bridge (though the bridge was pretty silent about pledges of affecting and loyalty and I don’t even want to consider what sort of intimacy would follow. What will the kids be like?); however, the most popular latest perversion in the areas where I live are unions between people of the same sex/gender (how they expect to have children, I do not know, if they are to remain totally faithful to one another); ironically, the same lands demanding freedom from Biblical norms for marriage will condemn the people of the ends of the earth in the Middle East who marry older men to little girls.
So the question arises, how do we determine what is a good marriage and what is not? Look to Jesus.
Jesus said, “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “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 flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
What do we learn from this: 1. Marriage is to be between a male and a female (male and female). 2. Marriage is to be permanent (let no one separate). 3. Marriage is authored by God, not people (what God has joined together, Creator made). 4. Marriage involves sexual intimacy (one flesh). 5. The Holy Scriptures describe God’s mandate for marriage (Haven’t you read). 6 Marriage is monogamous (a man … his wife … they are … two …). 7. Marriage is for humans (a man, from the passage referred to in Genesis: they are to be in his image. 8. The wife must be mature enough to have children & not be a mere child herself (one flesh, the yoking of marriage implies a certain equality before God.)
If you were to hold forth this standard in society today when someone asks you, you are liable to be called hateful and malicious. In fact, holding up God’s standards is nothing less than speaking the truth in love. Why?
Marriage is a picture of how God relates to His people. It reveals a closeness and inter-relationship that entails a correspondence and closeness not known among the angels. God will not be mocked. One day, all the plans of man will fall short. All the works of women will fail. Only what is of the Lord will endure. He stands as Judge over all creation, of which you and I are part.
You will say, Oh, so just believe in Jesus, get married, and all will be peachy, right?
Not necessarily. In this world we will have trouble. Whether a person is called to be single and so devote themselves to the Lord’s work or whether one married and called to divide one’s interests between the Lord’s kingdom and the well-being of one’s spouse, it is not an easy road. If a person is single, often they will be looked at askance as odd in a marrying society. If a person is married and they still seek to put the Kingdom of God first, they will face some difficulty in marriage and be frustrated in their ability to go 100% for the Kingdom of God.
Regardless, we know that it is clear: Jesus called himself the bridegroom. HE is passionate about His bride, the Church, those souls who have bound themselves to Him with their whole being. He is jealous for us and does not want us to divide our allegiances between Him and the state, between Him and money, between Him and family, between Him and our own safety. We are to offer all up to Him.
Here you go, Jesus. Take my life. Let me live as much for You as is possible for a married sinner to do.
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