Two For One.

I fully expect that many of my future blog posts will be about marriage. Because, well, I am married. (8 months tomorrow!)



There are myriads of ways that marriage reflects the Christian life. When he is happy, I find myself happy. When he is hurting, I find myself hurting. When he is sick, I want to stay home and take care of him. When something grieves the heart of God, we should feel grieved. When God and all of His angels are rejoicing over a new believer, we should rejoice. When God shows us what He wants us to do, we should do it. It is meant to be a knee-jerk reaction. We don’t even need to think about it.


But do we ever find ourselves thinking “God, I know that you are sad right now because one more person has just died without believing in you, but can’t you just be happy with me that I got a raise?!” or “Yes, I know that she just realized what it means to be sanctified, but I need you to come over here and take care of my needs!”? We need to learn that our lives are not meant to be at all separated from God. Just like when we are married, we are not ever meant to call it quits.


Sometimes, I think that people get confused…God created us, all of us…and He put us on the same earth…He did not create 7 billion “earths” so that all of us can live in our own little worlds…He wanted us to form community with each other. And community is not meant to be only the people that we know…we are intricately connected with the believers in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, Antarctica, New Zealand. When a church is built in Madagascar and the villagers begin to hear the Truth, the entire body of Christ should be ecstatic! When two missionaries are murdered in Mexico, the church should grieve for their families left behind and thank God for their sacrifice.


Our reaction would be completely different if we heard of a husband abandoning his addiction to go back to be with his wife. And we have every right to praise God for this redemption. Shouldn’t we rejoice just as much when a lost soul finds the Savior?


Think of the book of Hosea. God asked Hosea to take a prostitute as his wife…Hosea didn’t know why. The girl did not understand why Hosea wanted her, so when she could not bear that question any longer, she went back to her old ways. Hosea went after her, brought her back to their home, and taught her the love that God had shown to Him. I know for a fact that God did not accidentally make all of these things happen…I know that He was trying to teach the nation of Israel something. He is the Bridegroom who will never ever give up on His bride…no matter how stubborn or wayward she may become.


Since He has shown us this much compassion, shouldn’t we respect Him with all that we have? Shouldn’t we seek what He desires for us instead of pretending like our lives are all that matter? Shouldn’t we be so connected to Him that we align our minds to His ultimate goals, rather than our 3-5 year plans for our lives? Shouldn’t we emulate His commitment to us in our commitments to our marriages?