Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25)
The first Monday of March is here and once again it’s time to join my other blogging buddies for Marriage Monday. e-Mom has asked us to meet over at Jennifer’s blog, A Pair of Bartletts, to discuss The Glory of Christian Marriage. I’m offering my opinion on the subject and can’t wait to hear what other women have to say about the topic!
In this day and age, the word glorious is rarely attached to the word marriage. Though many couples would not describe their marriage as wonderful, delightful, pleasurable, magnificent, or beautiful God intends for marriage to be a glorious union between a husband and a wife. A marriage that pleases God is glorious for many reasons but I’d like to focus on the two reasons I find most amazing.
Marriage is used to describe the glorious spiritual relationship between Christ and the church. Christ literally gave his life for the church and this extreme act of love serves as a model for husbands. Husbands are expected to cherish their wives and to make sacrifices for them out of a desire to demonstrate love and protection. Wives are expected to submit to their husbands just as all are to submit to our Lord Jesus Christ. When we carefully consider the Biblical instructions given to husbands and wives, it is clear that God has designed marriage as a tool to make us more like Christ. How wonderful!
Marriage also serves as the glorious foundation for families, the essential building blocks of our society. The first half of Psalm 68:6 tells us that God places the lonely into families. There is a marvelous spiritual parallel here as well. When a man and woman join together in marriage, they leave leave their biological families and become part of a new family (Genesis 2:24). This is reminicent of our spiritual adoption into the family of Christ. Through marriage couples enter into a temporary family, but our spiritual adoption into family of Christ is both delightful and eternal. How glorious!
Just as we can identify God’s glory in a bright rainbow, a spectacular sunset, or in a soothing melody, we can ultimately find glory in Christian marriage because it is yet another one of God’s marvelous creations! To God be the glory!
© 2009, Andrea Thorpe. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for your post Andrea! You are so correct. I have mentioned on a couple of other comments today about the most wonderful design of the husband as the head, treating us like Christ loves the church, which just leads to a natural segway of submission by the wife. God meant there to be harmony…..not just a melody.
Thank you for coming by today!
Big hugs and blessings!
Amen Andrea! This post so inspiring, and it’s beautifully written too. You’re a wonderful “preacher.”
I can really relate to this: When we carefully consider the Biblical instructions given to husbands and wives, it is clear that God has designed marriage as a tool to make us more like Christ. Sometimes I chafe at this notion, because often growth is unpleasant and painful. But you’re so right. Our marriages are one of God’s glorious tools to make us more like Him.
Thanks for joining us for Marriage Monday today.
Hugs,
e-Mom :~D
amen! amen! may the Lord grant us the grace to live gloriously in our marriages!
and as you said, to God be the glory!
Isn’t it great that we not only represent so much, but also get to enjoy the actual relationship with our husbands? God is so smart.
It is so refreshing to read about the true joy of a Christian marriage. Truly this is God’s design and by following Him, marriage is glorious!
Hi Andrea,
Wow, this is one of the neatest posts about biblical marriage I have read. You are so right that our marriages are glorious and that is how the Lord sees them.. Also, pointing out the parallels between Christ and the church and marriage and family was wonderful. I am inspired. Thank you. Hugs.
It was a pleasure to visit with you as well. Can’t wait to see what we’ll be discussing next month!
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for creating such a thought provoking meme! JT and I usually have lots of chat about the topic before I write my Marriage Monday post.
Yes, yes, yes! To GOD be the glory! Thanks for stopping by:)
That is wonderful! And yes, God is very smart. When you examine His works, it’s hard to imagine that any of us could think we were smarter than Him!
Thank you for visiting.
Very well said Joyfull! Thank you for visiting!
Lynn, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Thank you for stopping by!
I love the two themes of how marriage exemplifies the glorious–the relationship of Christ to the church and the foundation of families. Too often in the midst of the mundane of daily tasks we forget the big picture. Thanks for the reminder.