Introduction On The Foundation Of Marriage

By ANGELIQUE VACCARO

 

Marriage is much more than cohabiting, living together. It’s a covenant, a special commitment made with God. The Bible tells us in Genesis that in the beginning, marriage was a union between Adam and Eve with God. But Adam and Eve broke this covenant with God and so today, people try to do marriage without God. A reason divorce statistics are sky high is because couples think they can do marriage by themselves without God, and of course that doesn’t work. We need to go back to the foundation and make God the center of our marriages in covenant with Him.

A successful marriage has strong roots. If the roots are weak, the marriage will quickly fall and then perish. The Bible tells us exactly what it means in Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Indeed, to have a strong marriage, we need a very good foundation. As we said before, marriage is a commitment, a lifelong commitment. It is a decision we should take very seriously, because it involves a lot of responsibilities that people are sometimes not ready for. 

Marriage is not a fairytale. It is not perfect and comes with its own struggles, because we are not perfect. We must learn how to do marriage in both the good and bad seasons of life. We need to build our marriage upon our commitments. “The strongest marriages are built on a foundation of love, vulnerability and commitment.” – The Naked Marriage by Dave and Ashley Willis – 

Let’s start from the beginning. What is marriage? Marriage is the union of a man and a woman who become husband and wife. Together they form a couple and a family. Genesis 5:2 says: “He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.”

God decided to create marriage because Adam was alone. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He gave Adam a partner, a friend, a wife: Eve. “The Lord God said: “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.”” (Genesis 2:18) 

And Genesis 2: 21-24 says: “Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon the man, and while he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and closed up its place with flesh. And the Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “At last, this one is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. …That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.””

Here is the exact moment of Adam and Eve’s marriage: they become one. God created marriage and said that it was very good. (Genesis 1:31) He turned something that was not good, man being alone, into something very good, giving him a wife. That means that marriage is good, but we need to be together to make it good, together with God.

Marriage is two imperfect people who join with each other for a life together. They are two very different individuals who decide to become a team and ride the boat of life with each other. They work hard to fulfill God’s plan for their marriage. They have to become one to build their marriage on a solid foundation and see the fruits that come from it. But they can’t do it by themselves, they need to do marriage with God.

Marriage is a permanent relationship. We can’t run away from our responsibilities or our spouse. Marriage requires the spouses to commit to each other forever. It is also about sacrifice and unselfishness; it needs a lot of patience and grace from God. Yes, marriage is very hard but it is also very rewarding. Let’s learn together about the foundation a marriage needs to be successful and prosper the way God designed it to.