Godly Relationships and Purity | Marriage
For this week’s BlogThursday post, we will be going through the final part of the “Godly Relationships and Purity” series, that is Marriage. We will delve into what biblical marriage looks like, how we can stay pure in marriage, and how we single youths can prepare for marriage.
What Does Biblical Marriage Look Like?
The Bible is very clear about the structure of marriage. Ephesians 5:22-28 explains this structure very clearly. Christ is the head of the husband and husbands are the head of their wives. Wives are meant to be submitted to their husbands and husbands are meant to be submitted to Christ. Ephesians 5:21 reads “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” In society, the idea of a woman submitting to her husband is seen as “patriarchal oppression” on women, encouraging the idea that both husband and wife must be equal in all things within the marriage. Their eyes have been blinded by the world, unable to see the beauty of the differences within the roles of a husband and a wife. If the husband and wife have the same roles, how will they be able to complement each other? Submission to a God-fearing husband who will lay down his life for his wife, the same way Christ laid down His life for the church is a beautiful thing. Ephesians 5:25 reads, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”. Husbands are called to have an agape self-sacrificial love for their wives. They must be willing to love their wives so much to do whatever they can to protect her at all costs, making her feel secure in him. In a Godly marriage, a wife will not be submitting to a normal man, she will be submitting to a man of God who fears the Lord, so she can place her trust in any decision he makes even if she doesn’t agree with it, knowing that she’s submitting to the Lord as she submits to her husband.
How To Stay Pure In Marriage
There are many people out there who thought to themselves “If I get married, I won’t struggle with lust anymore because I have my own spouse” and they got married with that mentality and found themselves in the same cycle of lust. There are many marriages where either one of the two commits adultery against the other. So how can we put an end to this sexual immorality within marriage? We must make sure we heal and get delivered from all sexual sins like lust before we even start courtship. This is the key to make sure we don’t place ourselves in broken marriages and broken families. When we speak about purity it is widely known as sexual purity, but purity is much more than the sexual aspects of it. Jesus says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”, now what does being pure in heart mean in marriage? It means not lying to our spouse, not falling into jealousy, not being selfish, having the right motives, having our spouse’s best interest at heart. Having a pure heart means being clean in the eyes of God, so ultimately living a life of obedience to Christ. Above all else, we must place Christ at the center of our marriage and make sure we are prioritising our relationship with Him above our relationship with our spouse. In the midst of the busyness that comes with marriage, especially when kids come into the picture, we must make time to prioritise our daily individual prayer routines.
Preparation For Singles
For us who are single, this could be a sign that there needs to be more preparation before we get married. An analysis of our character is needed at this time. We should focus on our relationship with God above all, because in the same way a spouse is a gift from God so is singleness. Our season of singleness, where it is just us and God, is very precious. One day when you get into a relationship, it will not just be you and God; there will be another person in the picture who will have your attention. Remember that you are married to God before you get married to your earthly spouse (Isaiah 54:5 “For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name...”) so treat God like your spouse, be faithful to Him, keep your mind on Him, fall in love with His Word, see the beauty of loving Him above anyone else, and when God sees that you’re ready, He will bring your future spouse your way.
Prayer
Father God, may You prepare my character for when I get married. May You help me to enjoy my time single, treating You as my only spouse. May my marriage be a beautiful depiction of the relationship Christ has with the church. May I always have a pure heart and place You first above all else.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.