Critical choices – Who to marry?

Written by Nana Kwame Owusu-Afriyie.

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (NLT) Genesis 2:24.

The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favour from the LORD” (NLT) Proverbs 18:22.

It is generally agreed that the oldest institution established by God is marriage. Marriage hailed from the Garden of Eden and God in His own wisdom created that framework for the furtherance of the human race (Genesis 1:28). Since Adam could not hang out with the animals in the garden, God realised the loneliness of man and He decided to remedy that by giving him a partner comparable to him (Genesis 2:18).

Christian marriage is for a lifetime. God hates divorce! The only force that can break the bond is death. God permits the marriage to be dissolved on grounds of adultery (Matthew 19:9) but He advocates for forgiveness (Colossians 3:13). Divorce has never been the original intention of God.

“For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife” (NLT) Malachi 2:16.

“Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery – unless his wife has been unfaithful” (NLT) Matthew 19:8-9

“But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife” (NLT) 1 Corinthians 7:10-11.

All these biblical injunctions show that marriage is not a child’s play. From the Christian perspective, the choice of a partner is probably the greatest choice next to our salvation. It can even consolidate our salvation or totally destroy it.

Socrates humorously quipped: “By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will be happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher”. God intends us to be happy in our marriage (Ecclesiastes 9:9). Getting a good partner should be done intentionally. God is the source of all good gifts (James 1:17) and a good wife (and of course a good husband) comes from the Lord (Proverbs 19:14). Let us endeavour to be candidates for marriage and God will divinely arrange a suitable partner for us.

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