Today, as I awaken and tromp down the stairs to our kitchen, Clay has made me a cup of tea and is waiting to put eyedrops in my eyes for about the thousandth time since he came about a month ago. As we look back on our lives, neither of us knew what our marriage would cost us in time, money, service, humility, forgiveness or joy, memories, traditions, building our home, ministry and life. Our marriage has become more valuable with each year of living in companionship together. But we did not know any of this at the beginning.
Marriage: A picture of the first community that God designed to be a blessing to all generations.
Before the fall, when all that God created was reflected in perfection, God created Adam and Eve, male and female to be the foundational unit through which all of life was to be organized. God gave the responsibility of being stewards of the earth He had made to Adam and Eve, the first couple, first family, and to their children. As a matter of fact, having children was the very first thought of God when He was blessing them.
"Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." Genesis 1: 28
Children, from the beginning and marriage and family, from the inception of the world, were a blessed design from God. Furthermore, creating children and parents to be a part of a larger community called family. This is a reflection of God's relationship orientation to life. From the beginning He created us to belong to a history of people, to a love of parents, to a community of related people who would provide stability, security, comfort, purpose and love. Marriage brings life together. Marriage is about God's idea of how to organize life and purpose.
Though many of us have not experienced this unity or blessing in our own lives and have had broken places in this fallen world, knowing God's perfect design before the fall, gives us direction to follow and wisdom to pursue as we seek to redeem that which has been broken in our world, in our time. Following His design brings blessing, direction and purpose.
Join me in my podcast today where I discuss the way to contentment in marriage, how to build this legacy for a lifetime and why God considers your worship of Him as a reflection of how well you choose to love and live in harmony with your spouse.
