Tag: marriage

Who’s Your Husband?

by Ms. Rita's Minute

There is much that has been said about the definition and role of a husband in a marriage. A woman’s husband is her lover, leader, provider, protector, and companion. Her role as a woman is to respect and submit to her husband in love. Not to mention, biblically, we are to submit to one another. Ephesians 5:21 tells us that we should submit ourselves to one another in reverence to Christ, right before verse 22 which tells wives to submit themselves to their own husbands. Therefore, it would be most wise for a woman to know the man she plans to marry possesses these qualities before she marries him. Though there is only a certain level of familiarity a Christian woman can have with a man to whom she isn’t married, there are signs that reveal these characteristics in his behavior during their friendship.

Moreover, God has provided the union of a man and woman to be fruitful and multiply humans on the earth. Yet some women and men have chosen not to marry or found themselves without a spouse for various reasons. When this is the case, we can place our faith in all those promises that God has given us regarding His commitment to take good care of us as a husband would. He gives us those responsibilities that are ours and His in having a successful marital relationship. The Bible is full of God’s wisdom on maintaining successful relationships whether between a man and woman, the Father and His own children, a worker and supervisor, relatives, or neighbors.

The Lord references a love and marital relationship with Him in the following verses:

Isaiah 54:5/ESV
For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

Hosea 2:19/ESV
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

Hosea 2:16/ESV
“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’

Revelation 2:4-5/ESV
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

1 Corinthians 11:2/ESV
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

I find these scriptures to be amazingly special in how He has redeemed us and made us worthy to be called His own spouse. To see one’s self as a wife to the creator of the universe is beyond pleasing to my imagination. It causes me to question if I really know what this means. This union with God is a truth stated in His scriptures to be taken seriously, but takes some consistent study and prayer to really understand and get it settled in one’s heart.

Should one desire to prepare for marriage, what better head start than to cultivate one’s marriage with God? Learning to show Him the love, honor, and respect He deserves, which also entails doing that toward others can sometimes feel like a lifelong journey to master, but by God’s grace, we can do it!

These things can’t be accomplished without gaining sufficient knowledge and familiarity with the Lord and His ways, as with anyone we might desire to marry. What do they value, or believe? What do they love or hate? How do they feel about us and how do they relate to us? What can we do to show love and respect toward them? All of these things take time and patience to garner.

Nevertheless, while seeing my Lord as my husband is a beautiful thing, I feel I relate more to being a princess or queen in my Father’s kingdom, a daughter of the Most High God, learning and growing in the victory He’s provided me; staying close to my Dad, knowing He’ll protect and provide for me forever.

So, if you have no earthly husband, understand that as a believer redeemed by the blood of Christ, you have a husband whose name is God among so many other names. In carrying out His role as Father, He is also a husband to us and we can depend upon Him to fulfill His role excellently in that manner. Further, Ephesians 2:6 tells us “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” Hence, let’s be joyful in not only knowing the King but also seeing ourselves as married to Him.

We’re Separating

by Ms. Rita's Minute

Unity is a beautiful thing. However, sometimes separating isn’t so bad. Sometimes it’s necessary. I’m referencing 2 Corinthians 6:14-18/NIV where the Apostle Paul is preaching regarding God’s will on separation. He first tells us not to be yoked together with unbelievers. The Greek word for yoked is Zugas which means to be burdened or in bondage. When you yoke yourself with someone or a thing, you are attaching, connecting, or closely linking with them.

Image: anna/Flickr

Unbelievers are those who have no relationship with Christ and don’t believe as God determines belief. They haven’t repented, submitted their lives to the Lord, nor been baptized. Also, they are often those who have professed faith in Christ by words only while living totally contrary to its definition.

Paul characterized this wrongly yoked relationship with the following contrasts:

Righteousness vs Wickedness

Light vs Darkness

Christ vs Belial

Believer vs Unbeliever

Temple of God vs Idols

Image: aboodi vesakaran/Pexels

Paul reminds us that we are the temple of God. So, as believers, we can now trust what God has said that He will live with us, walk among us, and be our God and we His people. But the Lord tells us to come out and be separate, not to touch any unclean thing and He’ll receive us. Therefore, we can expect God to be a Father to us and we’ll be His sons and daughters.

Further, in 2 Corinthians 7/NIV, Paul tells us to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, “perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” Hence, since we love and respect our Father, we honor Him by living holy and separate from the sinful life that grieves Him.

Image: Hagerty Ryan, USFWS/Pixnio

This doesn’t mean we don’t pray for and show love toward those who don’t believe, but we aren’t to yoke ourselves to them. This can be seen in the Bible’s commands that believers only marry believers. There should only be bonding and connection in this manner to believers. He gives us these commands for a reason. They aren’t to be a means of haughtiness or conceit, but of protection as the bible clearly tells us “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” (Galatians 5:9/NIV)

video: BYJUSClass910/Youtube

There’s no mistaking the awesome privilege of God’s grace and mercy toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. However, there is clearly still work to be done where we recognize what contaminates, defiles, or corrupts our bodies and spirits and cleanse ourselves of those things as shown in 2 Corinthians 7/NIV. We should not be mistaken on this, as some might have us to be, because God expects this of us. If He didn’t, He would not have expressed it in His word.

Revelation 18:4/NIV tells us, “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “‘Come out of her, my people,’  so that you will not share in her sins so that you will not receive any of her plagues; … .” This is another instance of God requiring separation.

Image: Chris Clark/Pexels

We are wise to assess ourselves and where we are in Christ, as we’re reminded in Revelation 22:12/NIV, ““Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done…, ” and Revelation 22:14-15/NIV, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” We want to live eternally with Christ and don’t want the consequences of being disobedient to His commands.

Moreover, we should not be surprised about the popularity of ungodly living. God has warned us ahead of time, that according to Matthew 7:13-14, we are to  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Image: Adam/Flickr

In any event, we all have been given the right to choose whose way we will follow: our own, another wayward man’s, or God’s. Nevertheless, a sobering thought is Revelation 22:11, “Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

While remaining alert to how we yoke ourselves in relationships, whether marriage, career, dating, business, etc., may we choose to remember these words of our Lord, ” I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11/NIV)

Image: Antony Trivet/Pexels