I do.
These two words have the power to change your life forever. No longer are you a solo operative navigating the complexities of this world alone. No longer are you allowed to let dishes pile up in the sink or leave clothes randomly around the house. You are now joined together with someone else as one flesh, committed to love one another in good times and bad, and loyal to each other as long as you both shall live.
This Easter is special for our family. Our oldest son, Caden, will be married. They say behind every great man is a very proud father, and a surprised father-in-law. We love our new member of the family, Allison. She is caring, beautiful, and a hard-working nurse. I come from a family of five guys with no sisters, and my wife and I have three sons and no daughters. I had to have a heart-to-heart with Allison and let her know that if she starts crying for no reason and tells me everything is OK, I’ll believe her.
A wedding on Easter weekend is a beautiful reminder of what marriage was intended to portray. Paul reveals to the church in Ephesus that marriage is a picture of the love relationship between Christ and the church. Jesus made a way for us to be joined together with Him in relationship through His redemption found only through His death, burial, and resurrection. John reveals his vision of the end of times in Revelation of a bride, the church, adorned for her husband, Jesus.
As you share the gospel this season, let your marriage do the talking. Your spouse is a gift from God. They will help you be more like Jesus in actively practicing love, patience, and sacrifice. Your marriage is a testimony to the world of the supernatural love that exists in good times and bad with the Creator of the universe. One way to share your faith to a watching world is to create a marriage that mimics the relationship between Christ and the church and stimulates inquisitive conversation.
Your marriage is a picture of the timeless love story of sacrifice, love, and redemption. Fight for your marriage. The enemy wants nothing more than to destroy it because it is the foundational institution established by God since the creation of the world to reveal the love of Christ. Divorce paints an inaccurate picture of Jesus and the church and results in generational destruction.
My prayer is that Caden and Allison’s marriage is a love story that points others to the love they can only find in Jesus Christ and produces some grandchildren for my wife and me.