Somethings are just worth fighting for.

There are few things in this world that change lives like the relationship between a man and a woman. So it has been since the beginning of creation. I want to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about marriage. There are many around me that know that recently I have given a few of my very close friends a hard time on this very issue. It may lead some to believe that there is some for of bitterness with issues that I have had in the past, but this is very much removed from any form of that emotion. I have found peace, understanding, and forgiveness in the years since that relationship ended. If anything that experience in my life has given me more of a passion and understanding for what is on the line in marriage. This is why I seem to give people a hard time when they are considering what they are getting into. The other reason that I am such an advocate of marriage is because of what it is a picture of as a believer. Through out the entire Bible both Israel and the Church are portrayed as the Bride of Christ. This paints a beautiful picture of how passionately God desires to fellowship with us. He loved his bride so much that we was willing to freely give his life for them, knowing that all they could give him in return is love and adoration. Paul gives husbands the commandment to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (Eph 5:25, Col 3:19). From a realistic perspective, if that were the case, then there would not be a woman on earth that would not desire that. Through out all Biblical history God celebrates and defends this institution that he created. It fact one of the first commandments that he gives Adam and Eve is to be fruitful and multiply. This indicates that marriage is the solid foundation on which a family is to be built. Part of what burdens me so much is that fact, that in out current me first society is that some do not take this as serious as they should. It feels like it is easier to get a divorce these days, than it is to get your name changed. I know I can say in the short time that I have lived on this earth I have seen many marriages both succeeded and fail. Some of these failures have been close friends of mine and some of them that I often looked up to. I understand that men and women will let you down, but The Lord never will. It simply boils down to one word these days "commitment". What are you committed to? Is it self? The word of God? Personal happiness? whatever the answer to that question is, it is one we must answer. So, yes I believe that marriage is one of the most beautiful things that God has created as a symbolic relationship between himself and the church. Can you imagine how beautiful she will be? How great the celebration? How deep the intimacy?