God’s intent for marriage is between One man  and one woman for life .

I know that this is a hard principle to swallow in this day and age where divorce is rampant even among the Chrisitans, and we have such an influx of alternative lifestyles in our culture.  But if we go back to Genesis chapters 1 and 2 we will see the true purpose for marriage. There the bible states in chapter 2:15-24 nasb. 

“15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not [n]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [o]suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the [p]sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the [q]sky, and to every beast of the field, but for [r]Adam there was not found a helper [s]suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God [t]fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

[u]She shall be called [v]Woman,

Because [w]she was taken out of [x]Man.”

24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

         In this passage we see where God created Adam,  and he created a paradise for Adam to live. He also put adam in charge of all the animals, but God saw that adam was still alone.  God causes the man to sleep and he took a rib from Adam's body and formed a women out of that rib. He brought the women to adam, and adam looks at her and states this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called women.  The woman is to be the helpmate of Adam. This means that she is to stand beside him no matter the circumstances.

In today's society we have become so accustomed to if we as married couples fall out of love, or decide we don’t want to be married anymore that we can just go to the courthouse and get out of it.  Marriage needs to be looked at in a different light, and really needs to be taken more seriously than this. When we say our vows we need to be saying them as if we are making a covenant between us and God that we will stay together no matter the cost.  I love the words that I use in weddings a lot. Reflect upon these words 

  God Intends the married couple to be one in the flesh 

           Verse 24 brings up an interesting point “and they shall become one flesh”.   What does it mean to be one flesh? Well that is a good question and a great mystery; the way I see it is this God intends for the husband and wife to be together until death.  This means that a husband and wife does life together, they raise children and manage the household together. They also one unit when it comes to fulfilling their God-given duties.  In other words they are one unit spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Now really this is probably the hardest thing to do because you each bring differences to the marriage, but with God's help you can overcome the differences and thus fulfill the oneness in marriage.  My own marriage is a great example of this concept. There have been times of great conflict, but in the end we did not just give up and came up with a solution together. I have to admit I am pretty ignorant when it comes to marriage and what it should be, but I can tell you that if you work it out God’s way your marriage will survive, and you will grow closer to God and each other.  

God intends for the married  partners to remain committed to each other 

          It was never God’s intention that we cheat on our spouse whether physically or in mind.  His intention is that we stay fully committed to each other for life. This is probably one of the hardest principles  for us commit to without God’s help. We live in a world that is very selfish, and it seems everyone is out for themselves, and if we are not careful we as Christians can find ourselves falling into the same trap.  I think of king david and his great sin he had with bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11 says this “ 11 Then it happened [a]in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

2 Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am pregnant.”

6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and [b]the people and the state of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king [c]was sent out after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 Now when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in [d]temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the [e]next. 13 Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.

14 Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 He had written in the letter, saying, “[f]Place Uriah in the front line of the [g]fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. 19 He charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, 20 and if it happens that the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

22 So the messenger departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we [h]pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” 25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing [i]displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him.”

26 Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was over, David sent and [j]brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord”.  

          Now we see here that David a man after God’s own heart failed to be where he was supposed to be and ended up becoming ensnared by sin.  David was supposed to be out with his army in the midst of the battle, but he was not he stayed behind and ended up in trouble. David was on his roof one day and he let his eyes wander and caught a glimpse of a woman bathing ; now this woman was very beautiful physically and david allowed himself to look on her with lust.  This was a big mistake because after he saw her he just had to have her as his own knowing that she was married already. This can happen so quickly that we don’t even know it is happening, but it did not end there David also ended up having Uriah her husband killed. This brings up a great point if we commit one sin it leads to another sin and the cycle does not end until we decide to break it.  For instance if a married partner decides to have an affair then they would have to tell a lie to cover up the affair. It is really just best if we keep our minds and hearts pure. Now how do we go about keeping our hearts and minds pure number one we need to make sure we stay in the bible read and reflect upon it every day. Second it is really a great idea to have an accountability partner someone other than your spouse that can pray with you and can give you Godly advice.