The Importance of Marriage

 God instituted marriage before any other institutions because He knew how important it was going to be for society to flourish as it should. He knew that it was not good for man to be alone. He knew he needed a help-meet to complete him, so he made woman to compliment the man. Then, he ordained for a man to leave his parents and to cling to his wife, becoming one flesh and having the closest possible human relationship. This is God's design, except for those who have the gift of being single.

King Jehoram's life shows us how marrying the wrong person can destroy a family and even a nation. (II Kings 8:18) He became king of Judah after his father, the righteous king, Jehoshaphat died. For some reason he married the daughter of Ahab, the evil king of Israel, and that caused him to be as wicked as Ahab had been. This led him to miss God's blessings for him and for Judah. We all need to learn from this.

Today we have a world that doesn't think marriage is important. We have people who choose to live together without getting married. They don't make a sincere, lasting commitment to each other, and they do not follow God's design. I see this with people who profess to be Christians and are church members. They don't try to find a good Christian to marry. They just find someone to move in with. This leads to all kinds of problems for them and for their children.

On the other hand, I see the great, boundless blessings of being married to a godly wife, just like the Lord designed. I have benefitted greatly from having my wife, Chris, for over 50 years to complete me. Now, that she is in heaven, I treasure what we had even more. I know that I am a much better person and a better servant of God because I married the right person. I pray for all of us to see this truth and honor marriage because of its importance and the blessings it brings to us and to our society.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 10-12.