Marriage is mysterious. It really is. There are things that I do not understand about my wife, and I may never understand them. She can be confusing at times, and I may never fully understand her. Other times, this marriage relationship is stunning in it’s beauty and complexity, as we continue to discover together what it means to become one. But as crazy as the human aspects of this relationship can be, there is something even more profound

Marriage is an example of Jesus’ relationship with the church.  You could say it like this: When God designed the original marriage, back in Genesis, He already had Jesus and the church in mind. One of God’s purposes in marriage is to display the relationship between Jesus and His redeemed people forever. So when God created marriage, He already had the work of Jesus Christ in mind. What he expects of us is to grow together and deepen our love for him together, and deepen our love for each other in the process. His purpose is pretty clear.

So the obvious question is, if marriage is God’s idea, and he has such a clear purpose for it, then why is it so hard at times?

I think there are two things at play here. The first is that we are sinful people. When we sinned, that affected everything. In Romans 8, Paul uses the word “groan to describe all of creation, including our relationships, as it suffers under the curse of sin. As a result, we live in a sinful state, and that sin affects everything. We age, we get sick, and our marriages suffer as well.

The second thing we need to realize is that we face an enemy that hates marriage, because it is a reflection of God’s relationship with us. That enemy will do everything he can do undermine it and destroy it. If Satan can’t pull you away from your relationship with God, he will make your other relationships his target. I believe this is part of why so many marriages fail, especially in the church. There is a very real battle going on for our marriages.

And with so much at stake, we must make every effort to pursue our marriages with the utmost intensity. And that takes work. A lot of work. Anything in life that’s worth pursuing is going to be difficult. Especially when we are living in a fallen state, with sin that corrupts everything and gets in the way of everything. My sin. Her sin. Our sin. Even the sin of others causes ripples in my marriage.

Because of that, we must be vigilant, watching carefully, because it’s that important. It’s worth every effort.

Don’t allow sin a foothold in your marriage, or even in your life. Root it out, and pursue your marriage with everything you have. If God places such a high value on it, then we should as well.

Be deliberate, husbands!

Sin affects our marriages deeply. What sin do you need to root out and allow God to remove from your marriage relationship? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.