‘Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.’ Genesis 2:18-25(NLT)
‘Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.’ 1 John 4:7-12(NLT)
‘Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’” And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” “Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” they asked. Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful.”’ Matthew 19:3-9(NLT)
Congratulations! The simple fact that you have some sort of desire to improve your marriage is a great thing. Whether your marriage is just okay or if your marriage is holding on by a thread, this plan, along with God’s Word, can help.
First things first, what was marriage created to be and what is its purpose? If we don’t start here, everything else is useless. So from the very beginning, in Genesis 2:18, God states, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” This verse gives us two really important truths about ourselves and marriage.
First: It is not good to be alone. Why? Because we were made for relationship. We were made by a loving God, a loving Father who desperately seeks to have a relationship with us. God also gave us a deep longing and capacity for love.
Do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to know why you were created? It’s this: to learn how to love! Because God is love! We were created to love God and to share the love of Christ with a dead and lost world. To share love, we have to first know how to receive and experience love. So God created marriage.
Marriage allows us to experience things like love, companionship, friendship, and fulfillment. Marriage allows us to have children, which ushers in all kinds of new ways to experience and express love. Hopefully you are beginning to see why it isn’t good to be alone and why marriage is so close to the heart of God.
We will look at the second main point found in Genesis 2 tomorrow. So for today, take a few moments and ask God: “Have I been viewing my marriage correctly? Have I viewed it as a training ground to learn to love and be loved, or have I expected other things from my spouse and marriage?”
from True North: LIVE Free In Marriage