Marriage is a beautiful covenant. It was the very first covenant in the Bible. God created marriage, and just by getting married whether you believe in God or not, you receive a blessing. God created marriage right after God made woman, then He created marriage. The Bible begins with marriage and ends with marriage. Marriage was the first covenant God created, and it has more significance than most people place on it. Marriage is a God designed covenant. It is a lifelong monogamous relationship which is the foundation of the family. A strong solid society is based on good solid family units. When the family falls apart so does society.
1. Your most important relationship is with God
2. Your second most important relationship is with your spouse
3. Your third most important relationship is with your children (family)
Marriage is WORTHWHILE
Lots of people complaining that marriage is hard work. Marriage is not always hard. It most often is not. It is joy filled, happy and loving. But at times we will be stretched and have to grow, learn how to compromise and communicate better. In other words, BECOME BETTER PEOPLE! Why would we really expect marriage not to be hard work. Our minds are filled with Disney and hallmark movies or some x rated stuff. Anything worthwhile you have to work hard at. Your college degree for any profession, 6 pack abs, etc. all of that involves a lot of hard work, but for some reason when we come to marriage we think its going to be easy because we love each other, because when we’re dating we just always want to be together, we rarely fight. We’re thoughtful, kind giving generous. We think about the other person 24 -7, but somewhere after the honeymoon, the honeymoon kinda love ends. This is where true love starts.
First comes “Romantic Love”, then “Honeymoon Love”, the “Real Love”. You know the death do us part, for better or worse, sickness and health part. In other words the hard part! We just didn’t think it would be this hard, honestly. It didn’t even dawn on us that this hard is even a thing that people could stay married through, but we do. Each marriage gets here in its natural course of marriage. It’s what we do next that matters if our marriage survives, or survives and thrives which is actually possible! Is it easy no. No it is not easy, but is it absolutely possible. Yes, yes it is possible and worthwhile and fun, joy-filled and 100% totally worth all of the effort you put in. To be able to look back over your lives and say we did it! We were able to have those really hard conversions, to be able to forgive those really hard things, to be able to let the little stuff go instead of making them into mountains, and continue to have a purposeful life together. One filled with a mission and vision together where you work together for a common goal. It is worth the effort!
Men I know you need a mission! You need something to fight for. To be able to look back at your life and say I did it! I fought for my marriage, for my family. To give myself and my wife and my children a stable home. Something that is quickly disappearing is still within our grasp to give.
Why Marry? To Create A Family!
To create a family. To be a husband or wife, to have a wonderful environment for children. This gives men purpose and meaning to their lives. This is one thing we have been created for we have been wired for.
RESOURCES:
In The Beginning The Profound Mystery of Marriage Series by Matt Chandler
Marriage Makes A Strong Family & Healthy Children
Effects of Fatherlessness on children:
2x greater infant mortality
4x risks of poverty
2x More likely to be obese
More likely to have behavioral problems
More likely to experience abuse and neglect
7x more likely to become pregnant as a teen
71% More likely to drop out of high school
More likely to abuse drugs and alcohol 75%
More likely to commit a crime
70% of Youth in Juvenile Institutions
More likely to go to prison 85%
63% of teen suicide
80% of all rapist
90% of all homeless and runaway children
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court”
Genesis 1:27 -“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 2: 18 “ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:20b “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs. and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
ARTICLES:
God’s Design For Marriage by Focus on the Family
God Design For Marriage -As first described in Genesis and later affirmed by Jesus, marriage is a God-ordained, covenant relationship between a man and a woman. This lifelong, sexually exclusive relationship brings children into the world and thus sustains the stewardship of the earth. Scripture clearly outlines a second purpose for marriage: to mutually complete each other. That’s why God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). Adam felt isolated in the garden, and so God created woman to eliminate his aloneness.
Traditional Marriage: What Does It Look Like?
The Value of Marriage -Married people are both responsible for and responsible to another human being, and both halves of that dynamic lead the married to live more responsible, fruitful, and satisfying lives. Marriage is a transformative act, changing the way two people look at each other, at the future, and at their roles in society.
Why Get Married?
- for love
- for companionship
- to signify a life-long commitment
- to provide security for children
- to make a public commitment to each other
- for legal status and financial security
- for religious beliefs.