Started reading 'The Christ-Centered Marriage', by Neil Anderson, which has been a blessing so far.
He defines a Christian marriage as a "spiritual union with God that is intended to be a visible expression of the relationship that God has with the Church, which is the Bride of Christ."
There was a good reminder in the first pages about how a family that prays together stays together. One of my life's main assignments is to break the cycle of divorce in my family ancestors. Jesus hates divorce because of the negative impacts it has on the spouses themselves, any children, parents, and even extended family and friends. Of course He is gracious and merciful and can use anything that enemy intended for evil for good (Genesis 50:20).
In Ephesians 5:25-27, we are provided with instructions and a picture of what a Biblical marriage was intended to look like: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word (the Bible), and to present her to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies."
May our generation keep Christ's sacred union between a husband and a wife without stain and wrinkle, expressing how grateful we are for His perfect sinless life, and sacrificial death on the Cross for us sinners. Amen.
