‘Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”’ Genesis 1:26-28(NLT)
‘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.’”’ Genesis 2:18-23(NLT)
‘When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—’ Psalms 8:3-6(NLT)
When a couple announces their engagement, most people want to hear “their story.” How did they meet? Was it love at first sight? Were they childhood sweethearts, or did they meet later in life? Whatever the case may be, a couple’s origin story intrigues us.
Have you ever considered the origin story of marriage itself? If you want to have a healthy marriage, the first thing you must understand is that marriage is God’s idea. And because He created it, we must go to Him for its definition and understanding. This means that when your marriage, whatever its origin story, is brought under the rule of God, your relationship can flourish and become all that God intended it to be.
From Scripture, we discover that God created marriage to expand His kingdom in human history. A kingdom marriage is “a covenantal union between a man and a woman who commit themselves to function in unison under divine authority in order to replicate God’s image and expand His rule in the world through both their individual and joint callings.” That’s a mouthful, so you may want to go back and re-read it. But simply put, the mission of marriage is to replicate the image of God in history and to carry out His command to let mankind rule.
So, marriage is not merely a social construct. Nor is happiness its goal. This is one of the main problems that many marriages face today. Couples relate to marriage only through social and emotional terms. We must go back to the biblical understanding of marriage. God created it as a sacred covenant, with the responsibility to reflect His image and to advance His kingdom. Happiness is a benefit of marriage, but it is not the goal of marriage. The goal is to reflect God through advancing His kingdom on earth. Happiness occurs as an organic outgrowth when the biblical goal is pursued.
The bottom line is marriage is a kingdom concept, not just a social one.
How does making happiness the goal of marriage create problems in one’s marriage?
from Kingdom Marriage