"And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'For the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; And they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
//Mark 10:5-9 (NKJV Version)
By chance, I came across this wonderful article that was posted on FB and it really thought me a lot about some of the things that we've talked about and agonised over before. The article is an excerpt from 'The Meaning of Marriage' by Timothy and Kathy Keller, go read it and be ministered to!
I think the key thing that struck me was the observation they made that marriage is painful and wonderful at the same time, precisely because it is a reflection of the Gospel, which is at turns, both piercing and awe-inspiring. And the reality is that, IMHO, I think that people need to work at love because it does not come naturally to us. Our kind of loveis often self-centred, selfish because that is who we are, people who are living life incurvatus in se. Only one type of love transforms us and teaches us how to love unconditionally.
The past few years have changed my views on dating, marriage and relationships quite deeply. And I have come to realise that marriage is not the end of all things. Instead, it is just the beginning of growing together. And like all types of growing up, it comes with a good deal of bruising, falling down and scrapping by. I know this because I'm now old enough to see my parents for who they are and I'll be the first to admit that being in a Christian marriage doesn't mean that it gets easier from then on. What it means though, is that you gotta stay committed not only to your spouse, but to the covenant that was made before God. And that you don't put your trust in man, you put it in his Creator.
So for all the times that they've quarrelled, apologised and made-up, I used to have this inane fear that, 'if it's going to be like this, I never want to get married' or 'when I get married, I'm never going to allow my husband and I to quarrel like this.' But I know that the day will come when I'm married and I will have these types of arguments with my husband. It will be my turn to experience growing pains. And I will not be afraid because it is He who will make us stronger. But for now, I'll hope, learn and wait until my heart is moved. I will not go around with false illusions of this anymore.
Although the greatest things in life always take the greatest effort, they will always be worth it in the end.
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'For the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; And they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
//Mark 10:5-9 (NKJV Version)
By chance, I came across this wonderful article that was posted on FB and it really thought me a lot about some of the things that we've talked about and agonised over before. The article is an excerpt from 'The Meaning of Marriage' by Timothy and Kathy Keller, go read it and be ministered to!
I think the key thing that struck me was the observation they made that marriage is painful and wonderful at the same time, precisely because it is a reflection of the Gospel, which is at turns, both piercing and awe-inspiring. And the reality is that, IMHO, I think that people need to work at love because it does not come naturally to us. Our kind of loveis often self-centred, selfish because that is who we are, people who are living life incurvatus in se. Only one type of love transforms us and teaches us how to love unconditionally.
The past few years have changed my views on dating, marriage and relationships quite deeply. And I have come to realise that marriage is not the end of all things. Instead, it is just the beginning of growing together. And like all types of growing up, it comes with a good deal of bruising, falling down and scrapping by. I know this because I'm now old enough to see my parents for who they are and I'll be the first to admit that being in a Christian marriage doesn't mean that it gets easier from then on. What it means though, is that you gotta stay committed not only to your spouse, but to the covenant that was made before God. And that you don't put your trust in man, you put it in his Creator.
So for all the times that they've quarrelled, apologised and made-up, I used to have this inane fear that, 'if it's going to be like this, I never want to get married' or 'when I get married, I'm never going to allow my husband and I to quarrel like this.' But I know that the day will come when I'm married and I will have these types of arguments with my husband. It will be my turn to experience growing pains. And I will not be afraid because it is He who will make us stronger. But for now, I'll hope, learn and wait until my heart is moved. I will not go around with false illusions of this anymore.
Although the greatest things in life always take the greatest effort, they will always be worth it in the end.
