You shall not commit adultery.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God, so that we lead a chaste and decent life in
word and deed, and that husband and wife each love and honor the other.
Marriage is the most beautiful earthly estate that God has established
on the earth. Marriage should be highly
treasured and given its proper place.
Just envision the bride on her wedding day, adorned with a glorious
wedding garment. The spotless garment is
a perfect picture of what wedded life should be like. The bride walks into the sanctuary to say her
vows to her soon-to-be husband and all eyes are on her. The beauty of marriage is typified in the
garment which the bride is wearing.
Yet it doesn't take long before the wedding garment is soiled. By the time the festivities are over the
garment looks used and dirty. It no
longer holds that glorious radiance which was present just hours before. Usually the dress is then cleaned and boxed
up, it is put out of sight and out of mind.
The glory which the garment displayed is usually forgotten and the cares
of life begin eating away at the beautiful estate of marriage, like a mouse
eating away at the beautiful garment that was once part of the highlight of a
wedding.
Married couples soon forget that glorious day. They become wrapped up in the cares of life
and at times show bitterness and anger towards each other. Slowly but surely they lose that physical
attraction that brought them together in the first place and they find
themselves just biding their time together, trying to keep their families
together and doing their part to make ends meet. If their love towards each other is not
kindled, it will eventually go out.
If our children are fortunate, their parents stay together until death
parts them, but most of them see a much less appealing side of marriage. Two individuals come together to unite as one
flesh, yet they have done things their own ways for so long that they are
unable to adapt. Stress begins to mount
and the glorious wedding dress doesn't look very glorious anymore. Children perceive our thoughts through how we
act in our marriages. The young look to
us for guidance, but when we have given them a poor example to live by we
destroy the sanctity and beauty of marriage that God had established it to be.
Sure it may keep the marriage bed pure for our generation, but when our
own marriages lack the splendor and appeal God gave them we show nothing but a
poor example for the next generation to follow.
It’s no wonder people are so willing to try other things that have been
condemned by God (co-habitation, homosexuality, or experiential love,
etc.). They see people failing every day
in the marriage that God designed, so they think to themselves, why not try something
else.
Yet, Christ’s marriage to His Church has never failed. Jesus united himself to mankind by taking on
human flesh and living a perfect life under the law. He sanctified our bodies by pouring out blood
from His side to wash all sin away. Then
He rose from the dead to prove to us that God had approved of His
sacrifice. This is the marriage we are
to look to when our own marriage is troubled.
This is the marriage we are to look to when our sins are weighing us
down. And this is the marriage we are to
aspire to imitate. Only Jesus’ marriage
to His Church succeeds against all odds.
Every time our wedding garment becomes soiled, we return to Him to be
washed and cleansed. We return to Him so
that we are not looking at our own imperfect human examples but aspiring to His
willingness to love us, even when we did not deserve it.
God grant us a willing heart and mind to be
chaste in all our thoughts, words, and actions, so that we treasure marriage as
we ought. Help husbands and wives to
love and honor each other, as Christ has so loved us, and to set an inspiring
example of marriage; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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