Before there was a church, a choir, a pastor, or a prophet, there was the ministry of marriage. Even though marriage is a blessing and a gift from God, ultimately marriage is not primarily about us. Marriage is about God and the advancement of His Kingdom. Marriage is given as a Kingdom resource and blessing to be stewarded by us that God’s love might be made manifest. In this context marriage is an extension and expression of God’s love for us.
The problem is, many people go into marriage to get their individual needs met. Many feel that through marriage they will be loved and rescued from loneliness or a pain injected into them during childhood. We may not have realized it at the time, but we may have gone into marriage a broken person hoping marriage would mend all that. Before we go into God’s “beloved” vision of marriage, we need to become God’s beloved child first. Let me say that this is a word initially to those that are still single. If you are already married, it’s about trusting God to do both at the same time. That is, God can transform an individual into the beloved and a marriage into a beloved Covenant relationship at the same time.
Many times in the Bible, marriage is used as a metaphor to describe the relationship between between Jesus and the church. Jesus in every case is described as the groom and the church as the bride. If you’re looking for Biblical principles for your marriage consider Scriptures that deal with Jesus and the church and reflect on what that might mean for your marriage. Consider reading Ephesians chapter 5 and Philippians chapter 2 .
Missio Alliance Comment Policy
The Missio Alliance Writing Collectives exist as a ministry of writing to resource theological practitioners for mission. From our Leading Voices to our regular Writing Team and those invited to publish with us as Community Voices, we are creating a space for thoughtful engagement of critical issues and questions facing the North American Church in God’s mission. This sort of thoughtful engagement is something that we seek to engender not only in our publishing, but in conversations that unfold as a result in the comment section of our articles.
Unfortunately, because of the relational distance introduced by online communication, “thoughtful engagement” and “comment sections” seldom go hand in hand. At the same time, censorship of comments by those who disagree with points made by authors, whose anger or limited perspective taints their words, or who simply feel the need to express their own opinion on a topic without any meaningful engagement with the article or comment in question can mask an important window into the true state of Christian discourse. As such, Missio Alliance sets forth the following suggestions for those who wish to engage in conversation around our writing:
1. Seek to understand the author’s intent.
If you disagree with something the an author said, consider framing your response as, “I hear you as saying _________. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, here’s why I disagree. _____________.
2. Seek to make your own voice heard.
We deeply desire and value the voice and perspective of our readers. However you may react to an article we publish or a fellow commenter, we encourage you to set forth that reaction is the most constructive way possible. Use your voice and perspective to move conversation forward rather than shut it down.
3. Share your story.
One of our favorite tenants is that “an enemy is someone whose story we haven’t heard.” Very often disagreements and rants are the result of people talking past rather than to one another. Everyone’s perspective is intimately bound up with their own stories – their contexts and experiences. We encourage you to couch your comments in whatever aspect of your own story might help others understand where you are coming from.
In view of those suggestions for shaping conversation on our site and in an effort to curate a hospitable space of open conversation, Missio Alliance may delete comments and/or ban users who show no regard for constructive engagement, especially those whose comments are easily construed as trolling, threatening, or abusive.