Faith and Marriage

I normally am not one to discuss my faith with people I don't know (AKA my blogger buddies), but my pastor's message was pretty awesome (and ironic) today so I had to share, not only that, I think a lot of it is something most people believe, even non believers of the Bible.

What makes it so ironic was that hubby and I got in a pretty heated argument last night and some things said at church today was the same point I was trying to make with hubby last night. :-) I'm not a pastor and I don't speak as eloquently as one but I took away a lot from today.

We go to church at HCBC Hutto and Bobby Pruit is a phenomenal speaker. In fact, hubby had him as a youth pastor when hubby was younger. So today's message was "Do you honor God with your Marriage" and it was basically a bible study on marriage.

We looked at Genesis 2:24. "A man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined with his wife and they shall be one." When you get married and are joined as husband and wife you are creating your own family and leaving each others. Of course you still each have your families and you spend time with them and celebrate them, but your spouse becomes your priority.

From this passage and other scriptures (that unfortunately I did not write down), there are 3 Foundation Principals.
1. Leave: Marriage is the most important of all human relationships.
-Leave your family and build your relationship with your spouse as nothing is more important than the relationship you build with him/her.

2. Joined: Marriage is the most permanent of all human relationships
-When you get married you leave your family for your spouse. Then you have children. But even your relationship with your children is not permanent. They too, eventually grow up and leave their parents for their spouse. But you always have your spouse and the only thing that ends that relationship is death. Til death do us part....

3. Oneness: Marriage is the most intimate of all human relationships. Even in your close relationships with your family it will never be as intimate as the one you have with your spouse.

Unfortunately in our society, divorce follows strongly with marriage. Hubby and I have already vowed that divorce would never be an option for us. We are in this for the long haul and that's that. As said in church today, divorce is not a "backdoor" for us, it's sealed shut.

Scripture says that God hates divorce. Divorce creates broken promises, broken people, and broken praise. But in turn, God allows divorce when it is for biblical purposes (unfaithfulness, desertion, death, and prior to having Jesus in your life) and allows remarriage for the victim of the divorce. See Matthew 19: 2-10

Some pharises came to Jesus, testing him, and asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"
And He answered and said, "Have you no read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together LET NO MAN SEPARATE"
They said to Him, "Why then did Moses comman to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I saw to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultry.
The disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry."

That to me says a whole lot! If you are going to marry, you better get it right the first time because there are no second chances. You don't get to go shopping for a new spouse and divorce them when you get tired of them. But, if you are the victim of unfaithfulness, desertion, or the death of a spouse, you surely get your second chance and Jesus will be there to support you.

Lastly, what I took away from the sermon today was that Every Marriage Needs:
-Christ: first and foremost He helps you create your loving strong marriage and is always there to support you and your spouse.
-Commitment: Commitment to each other right here, right now, and forever.
-Communication: For when the times get tough and you need to work it out
-Counsel: support, someone older and wiser than you that can help you when it gets rough
-Cheerleaders: Those people that support you and your marriage to encourage you to fight for each other, support Christ in your life, and Keep the foundations building strong.

So you may not agree with everything I had to say that I summarized from church today, but I'm sure everyone agrees with something. And with all that said, the most important thing about marriage is to LIVE BY YOUR VOWS!