Marriage...God's plan

[Funguy33]

MARRIAGE: ANALYSIS and  ADVICE:..How does God view and give guidance to marriage?
EASY to SAY...HARD to LIVE!!


Genesis 2:24 (NIV)
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and they will become one flesh.( LEAVE 1 family Unit, and CLEAVE to a new one).
Spirit + Soul + Body shall strive to be ONE.


Malachi 2:15 (NIV)
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one?
Because he was seeking godly offspring.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.


LOVE is the glue that binds two into one.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
Jesus replied:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as "yourself.'"
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
A spouse is your closest love-mate, neighbor, and friend.


Keep your spiritual PRIORITIES straight on LOVE and Marriage:
1. God
2. Spouse - your CLOSEST neighbor - "one flesh"
3 "yourself" - "one flesh"
4. kids
5. family
6. friends
7. world
8. work
9. stuff


If your Spouse is your CLOSEST neighbor and "one flesh", then all the Christian precepts apply: don't be angry, forgive and forget, "Golden Rule", help, etc. etc.


P.S. ....Believers: Do Not Be Unequally "Yoked" With Unbelievers
2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NIV)
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?
What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God.


P.S.S...Husbands have the tougher job!!
Ephesians 5: 25-33(NIV)
Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it,
just as Christ does the church—
for we are members of his body.
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and the two will become one flesh."
This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself,
and the wife must respect her husband.


Spiritual marriages between two Christians should last!!
God hates divorce! It splits the "one flesh"!


Malachi 2:16 (NIV)
"I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "
and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,"
says the LORD Almighty.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

[DaveW]

Good except in your priority list.  Why do you put "self" 3rd on the list? IMO it should be much lower.  How many times in the gospels are we told to "deny yourself?"