Since the beginning of time, God created Eve for Adam as a helper that would dispel his solitary world. We might live in a different time, but marriage still brings two lone individuals together. Obvious changes are made for each person. That does not mean the identity of each person is lost. However, a couple can now express creative individuality together! What a beautiful picture of God’s love for us. This portrait progresses as the couple grows older, becoming one. Marriage is hard work, and the fruitfulness of that labor benefits both individuals.
How do our children view marriage today? We need to ask them. The focus of a marriage can be based upon one or two persons. Becoming joined to someone is not only about completing oneself, but another in Christ. Adulthood is not finalized by acquiring that other person. Should the institution of marriage be in competition with individualism? As parents, we need to show our children that the two individuals have become one, and that God is head of the relationship.
Why do we seem to put pressure on a single person to find a mate, or look down on an older person who is not married? Is something missing from their lives, and another person is the only solution? Getting married is not always God’s will for us. Please continue to pray for our children and offer advice sparingly depending upon their age. They need your guidance, even if they do not want it, and they need to be encouraged to seek God’s will for their lives.
Here is God’s priority on Love.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40 NLT
What type of love was Jesus talking about? He seemed to only to mention loving God and loving others, nothing was stated about romantic love.
This scripture really designates the importance of Loving God and others. Both of the commandments are important, but the first and second should hold separate places in our lives than a romantic love for a mate. That does not mean marriage is out of the question. It simply means that remaining single could also be God’s plan for their lives. God directs us through different paths of life. Beware of comparisons of relationships, as God’s plan for one child might be singleness and another marriage. God created all of us as unique individuals. We ultimately decide to follow Christ or the world.
We must always encourage our children to seek God’s will for their lives, and not put pressure on them to be the person we think they ought to be.
