As I mentioned in my previous blog, marriage is a very serious life commitment, not only to your spouse, but also to God. However, many times the world treats marriage more like dating: something to do for a little while but when one gets bored they get out of it. Sadly this attitude is also displayed by some Christians. I want to compare what the Christian’s attitude about marriage should be to what the world’s attitude about marriage is.
- Duration. The Christian marriage is a new, permanent lifestyle. The worldly marriage is temporary lifestyle that can easily be changed. In Matthew 19:4-6 Jesus says: “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
- Authority. Christians enter into a marriage with the attitude that the wife submits to the husband, and that they both submit to God. The world enters into marriage with no higher authority, only relying on themselves. In Colossians 3:18-19 the Bible states: “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”
- Attitude. Christians should have a selfless attitude towards their spouse. The Christian spouse is always looking for ways to serve and love their spouse. The world enters into a marriage with a “me-first” attitude, without consideration for their spouse. The Christian spouse should exhibit all the qualities of the new man in Colossians 3:1-10.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”