Today Was Supposed to Be My Wedding Day (from the Gospel Coalition blog)
May 26, 2012. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion—the day I would walk down the aisle in my mother’s lace wedding gown, peonies in hand, best friend at my side, family and friends looking on with joy. It was supposed to be the day I started a new chapter, the day my dreams would be fulfilled. Little did I know, God had other plans.
Marriage should represent Christ and the Church and this woman gets it.
This weekend my fiancé and I both worked, “the Mix,” a youth discipleship/evangelism weekend sponsored by a handful of churches around Athens. We basically lived with high schoolers from our church all weekend and it was…awesome. Seriously.
Anyway, the message this weekend was based around Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Well…maybe it was Proverbs 16:25 (not a typo)
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
If “the way that seems right to man” is the “normal” approach to life, then Christians should be aiming at “weird”. In the context of marriage, the statistics seem to indicate that “the way that seems right to man” is to divorce when being married is no longer easy or we aren’t happy.
What’s “weird” look like?
“God doesn’t protect Christians from their problems – he helps them walk victoriously through their problems. If your marriage is tough…thank God that he has given you an opportunity for unparalleled spiritual growth. You have the prime potential to excel in Christian character and obedience.” – Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage</em
Let’s be weird.
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV)
The verses above are among the most offensive (to our culture) in the Bible. I wonder how different people would feel about it if men lived up to this standard:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)
"He who finds a wife..." 