10 Days of Relational Ramblings Day Four

Does Our Marriage Relationship Reflect Our Relationship With God?

His Thoughts: 

“For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.”

-Ephesians 5:25-27

The New Testament talks a lot about Jesus being the Bridegroom of the church (us), and us being Christ’s bride. I think this can be a difficult one for a lot of men to relate with because it is hard to think of ourselves as a bride, even in a metaphorical sense. However, I think this symbolism runs deep. I personally believe that the idea of a marriage relationship reflecting our relationship with God has serious implications.

God calls us to worship Him and Him only, to respect Him and commune with him daily. He wants a pure and unadulterated relationship. So, what if marriage is a training ground for learning to keep this pure and unadulterated form of a relationship?

As men, we know that there are a lot of distractions that can contaminate our relationships with our wives. I am just going to say it because there is no point in beating around the bush, lust is a challenging issue for most men. If we are being honest, we often excuse it too. We say things like, “God made me this way so he understands”. You know what though? God tests us sometimes. When He does, He wants to see our level of commitment to Him, and in this case, He wants to see our level of commitment to our wives. Ultimately, the level of commitment we are willing to give our wives may reflect the level of commitment we are willing to give Him.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.” -Exodus 16:4

Just like God tested the Israelites, He tests us too.

So here is my challenge for us as men: Next time we have an impure thought or struggle with impure actions that would disrespect our wives, let’s choose to pass God’s test and be pure, dedicated and exceptional husbands. Ultimately, this can lead us to a happier marriage, but most importantly it will lead us to a more pure relationship with our Creator.

Her Thoughts: God is called "jealous" in fact, Exodus 34:14 actually says, His very name is Jealous:

14 You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you...

As a spouse, I can understand that from a wife's perspective. I can relate to the desire to have my Love's heart long only for me. To long for his heart and mind and body to be kept only for me. God longs for us, for A L L of us, not a part of us, but the whole. God wants a people whose hearts are beating only for Him, whose eyes are looking only to Him, whose body is saved only for His good purposes. But so often we are easily misled and swayed to lesser loves. We so easily find ourselves longing for temporary fulfillment or pleasure, when instead He wants to offer us something that will last. Our tendency to stray from God is reminiscent of our tendency to be easily led astray from the tender love of our spouse. But God wants us wholly and completely, and so does our spouse, and I imagine we too, want that from our spouse; a oneness, a trust built upon that oneness. But we are merely human. And in that humanity comes our wandering heart and tendency to falter and fail. Yet, in our waywardness in our walk with God, He offers us an abundance of grace and an unchanged faithful love. As a spouse, we can choose to offer this same tender grace and faithful love, knowing that God has chosen to love us and forgive us. Knowing we may struggle to live out undivided love, we must then purpose to live out open communication, with honesty and purpose in our hearts to "come clean" when we are faltering or if we've failed. Marriage cannot be built upon falsehood or lies, so if you're living with a divided heart or have done so in the past in your marriage but have not yet been honest with your spouse, now is your time to come clean and give your marriage the opportunity to grow upon the Solid Rock, rooted and established in trust, love, grace and truth. A love that is undivided is a love that has been worked out, tested, grown and matured-it is a holy pursuit!
So as we seek to model the unity of Christ and the Church in our marriages, we should recognize that we are striving for something Holy. Holiness is
impossible without the power of Christ and the covering of His blood. So, this leaves us with no other choice but to cling and crave and run in desperation toward God in our deep need for something we can ONLY achieve through Him! Oh how we are so needy! We need Him so! Without Him, nothing is possible, especially not Holy offerings like loving and forgiving and walking in an undivided oneness with our spouse. 

Guided prayer thought: Dear God, as we seek to model our love after how you love us, we recognize we have a desperate need for more of You! We long for holiness! God, You have chosen us to be Your bride, to be single-minded and undivided in our devotion to You. Please give us unity and strength and dedication to love one another in this same way. This is a Holy pursuit. Keep our hearts pure and committed to one another in love and honor and oneness. We long for more of You! In Jesus name we pray, amen! 

Scripture: Ephesians 5:25-27 & 31-3325 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.[b] 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”[c] 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.