Genesis 2:18-25

When God brought Eve to Adam, he said something like “WOW!”  After naming the animals and not finding someone who was similar to him, he was ready for the relationship that God provided for him.  Marriage is a wonderful gift from God that He planned, blessed and ordained.  Unfortunately the bliss of marriage didn’t last very long as we shall see in the following chapter.  However, in this passage we see what I call the four pillars of marriage.  These pillars of marriage are keys to sustaining a marriage that is both lasting and loving.  Whenever things are not right in a marriage you can almost always trace the problem back to a weakness or lack in one of these four pillars.

CONSECRATION: We must realize that marriage was designed by God and that it is for the purpose of God’s glory.  When God looked for an illustration of the love of Christ for the church He used marriage.  Our marriages should reflect the love of Christ and be dedicated to the expanse of the glory of Christ.  Our marriages must be first of all consecrated to Christ and not to ourselves.  Any decisions or choices we make in our marriages must be made in light of the question: What would bring more glory to Christ?  Too often people leave marriages because the marriage is not making them happy.  We must remember that the ultimate purpose in our marriage is not the pursuit of our own happiness.  The truth is that we are most miserable when we focus on ourselves and we are only truly happy as our lives and marriages are devoted to God.  God is the one who perceived Adam’s need and He is the One who met this need through marriage.  Our marriages will only be lasting and loving as they are consecrated to Him.

COMMITMENT: Marriage is a commitment to be faithful to one another and to stay with one another until death.  God commanded that the man leave his parents and cleave to his wife and become one.  This God ordained union is only broken in death.  This is God’s intention and His design for marriage.  Anything other than this is a result of sin on the part of man and was not a part of God’s design for marriage.  In today’s world as well as in ancient societies marriage has been under attack and divorce has been common.  This is not God’s plan.  Marriages fail with such frequency that there is a strong movement in our society away from the commitment of marriage towards simply “living together.”  Leaving marriage or avoiding marriage is not part of God’s plan for the family.  When we get married we are making a commitment to stay together no matter what happens and to be faithful to one another in marriage at all times.  We should never allow the thought of divorce or let it cross our lips in the most difficult of days.  If our marriages are going to be lasting and loving we must view them as unbreakable commitments.

COMPANIONSHIP: Marriage was designed because it was not good for man to be alone.  We need companionship and marriage is God’s provision for that need.  When we get married we are making a commitment to be companions of one another.  That means we need to spend time together.  Communication, sharing dreams, listening and helping one another are all vital to the marriage relationship.  Too often the hours that were spent talking to one another and planning life together slowly diminish in the marriage relationship and couples drift apart.  They then say that they fell out of love but the truth is that they simply stopped cultivation companionship with one another.  Time, conflict, familiarity and life in general all seem to erode a couple’s ability to communicate and be a part of each other’s lives.  Our jobs, children, activities and even church can take so much time and energy that we don’t have the strength to put into being companions of one another.  This is not God’s plan.  We must make time and reserve strength to be together.  If our marriages are going to be lasting and loving we must invest fill them with companionship.

CUDDLING: God provided for a physical intimacy between Adam and Eve that was an integral part of their marriage.  The fact that they were naked and not ashamed had to do with their lack of sin, but demonstrates God’s blessing on this intimacy within marriage.  Unfortunately this gift of physical intimacy has been so polluted by the world that it has become an almost expected reality prior to marriage and therefore often continues with adultery after marriage.  God blesses this intimacy within marriage but outside of marriage it creates countless problems that plague our society today.  However, within marriage we must dedicate ourselves to develop and sustain an intimacy in our physical relationship that will meet each other’s needs as well as help prevent temptation.  We must not allow the world’s perversion of physical intimacy to cause us to be embarrassed by or avoid this wonderful gift of God within the boundaries of marriage.  If our marriages are going to be lasting and loving we must be in the habit of cuddling.