I hope to write regularly on Christian family issues: marriage, parenting, siblings, singles, extended family relations, etc.
To get started, let's consider marriage from Genesis 1-2 and 16.
On January 1, I began again at the beginning: Genesis 1.
The first 11 chapters explain the setup of the world:
- Sea, sky, and soil - the structure of the physical world (chpts 1-2)
- Sin - why do we suffer? the structure of the spiritual world (ch 3-4)
- Seed, from Seth to Shem - the generations of human beings (ch 5)
- Seasons and span of life - after the flood God regulates the world and man's life more tightly (ch 6-9)
- The sons of Noah - of humankind, the scattering of the nations (chpts 10-11).
Foundational to all of this setup is sex and marriage.
Genesis 2:20-24: "The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
See your spouse as a blessing from God. "He who finds a wife finds a good thing" - Proverbs 18:22. Marriage makes the life of humanity possible for the future. God knew Adam would disobey and deserve death at the tree. But He had mercy and gave Eve, the life-giver, to Adam anyway. Every husband should see his wife as a God-given mercy to him. "You doesn't deserve her, but she seems to love you." (Sabrina quote - new version with Harrison Ford...) God didn't just spare Adam's life. He gave help and beauty and pleasure with Eve, when Adam deserved death and pain.
Marriage alleviates the curse of isolation that sin brings. A life long companion is a deep blessing.
But marriage can also amplify the consequences of our sin.
In Genesis 16, Abram's wife Sarai is desperate for the child God promised, and asks Abram to have a child with her servant Hagar. Abram consents, and strife results.
Sometimes we ask things of our spouse that we shouldn't. Or we let things go that we shouldn't. Then when things go sideways we blame them for approving, when it was our idea in the first place.
Just as a nation can sin corporately, so a married couple can fall into sin together. This calls for individual repentance by each, talking it through together in humility, and changing bad behavior patterns.
Most marriages are also a picture of God's mercy, as with Christ and the Church: when one screws up, the other may be upset. But in the big picture, they really want their partner to succeed. They still love them. Reflect God's mercy and purity in your marriage this year, with the help of the Lord Jesus.
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