MARRIAGE (PART 1)
Shalom women of God. Welcome to another exciting series on marriage. If you have proceeded to this next article then I believe that you are hungry to know more about marriage as I am. You will not regret coming on this journey of rediscovery of the mandate of marriage and what it supplies in the economy of God. In this article, we are exploring why the need to embark on a journey to rediscover marriage. And I give you four reasons.
First of all, I believe that it is one of the greatest topics to be handled especially in this era. We live in an age where the rate of divorce in the church seem to outnumber that of the world. By my small census, I believe that the most talked about topic in the Body of Christ is marriage and yet it is the area where we are slacking the most in the Body of Christ. But we cannot afford to fail in this virtue. Because of all the thing that God could hate, He chose to hate divorce. If there is something that I have come to understand concerning God, then it is the fact that He does not mince words. He speaks as it is and if He says He hates divorce then He does. Note that He hates divorce and not the divorcee. So if you are a divorcee. You are in great company. We do not seek to condemn but to build. We must be forceful in our efforts to understand marriage and its purpose. For to fail in this is to disappoint our God.
More so, it seems the world has set a marking scheme for the Church and on it is written marriage 80% as pass mark and 20% pass mark to cover the rest of the other Christian virtues. To fail in marriage to the world spells a total failure of our stance in God. While this notion is not a true picture of how our Lord sees us nor how He judges the matter of divorce, we must realize that He admonishes us to flee from all appearances of evil and that includes divorce. Though our aim is to please the Lord, we must not yearn to accrue the disfavor of men. And we endeavor to live lives that are blameless.
Thirdly, to underestimate marriage is to dig a hole and bury your destiny. Because I have found that the devil has great respect for it. I have observed how he channels great attention and how detailed his plan is when he wreaks havoc against all Christian marriages. This may sound far-fetched but I have found that marriage is related to the level of success one can chalk in life. Do not get me wrong. I am not saying singles will not make great strides in life. If I did, I would be purporting a fallacy and the life of Apostle Paul alone would debunk my theory.
However, let us consider these scriptures:
Ecclesiastes 4:9
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
Deuteronomy 23:30a
How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight
Genesis 2:18
And the LORD said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him
From these two scriptures we realize that though singleness is not evil and God has never frowned upon it, He is not enthused by it either (except it is done in favor of the gospel). For He said, in the beginning, that it was not good for man to be alone. Why is it not good for man to be alone? For while one man with all his efforts shall chase a thousand, two shall chase ten thousand. And also if two work together they can have a good reward for their labour. Think about it. If all you had was one leg how difficult it would be to move. And if all you had was one arm how difficult it would be to perform our basic tasks. But glory to God that He created us with two legs and arms. Two is good because they produce the synergistic effects that the Lord wants in the pursuit of the visions He has given us.
Lastly, I have been trained by the Lord to look at patterns and similitude. One scripture I like is in Matt 24:28 (For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together). This scripture has taught me that anything God places emphasis on and the devil seeks to pervert is not an area to be ignored. Most often there is something in it that goes beyond our eyes and minds. When I realized that God said He hates divorce and that one of the devil’s greatest plans is to wreck marriages, I sought to understand why. Why does Jehovah hate divorce and why is marriage so important to Him and also to the devil. I will leave this reason to be explored further in subsequent articles.
Shalom woman of God. This is going to be very exciting. Join the wagon and let’s ride through scriptures and learn right from the hand of the Father. To Him be all praise both now and forever. In Jesus Name. Amen. See you soon.
