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Hi Ladies,

We’ve made it to #12 of the 12 Ways to Know He’s the Right Man for You!  “You will both commit to each other”.  There are still more criteria that can be applied to knowing if you’ve got the right guy, but without this one, it is certain that your relationship will not last.  Both of you must understand that your marriage is a lifetime covenant, and must still be willing to make that commitment.

COVENANT PARTNER

No matter the actual verbiage of the marital vows, and regardless of their religious orientation, in God’s sight, by the act of marrying a couple commits themselves to an irrevocable bond.  And in a marriage between His Followers it is sealed by Himself.  Husband and wife “become one flesh.” (Genesis 2: 24).

Matthew 19: 4, 5 – “Have ye not read, that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife:  And they twain shall be one flesh?”

Mark 10: 9 and numerous other verses in Scripture declare, “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”  And The LORD means it.  Because Christian marriage vows establish a permanent relationship between the two individuals and Almighty God, we must understand the depth of this commitment before we undertake it.

COVENANT VS CONTRACT          

A biblical covenant is diametrically opposed to a contractual agreement:

  1. It is based on trust, not distrust. Most contracts are signed because the participants do not want to rely solely upon each honoring their word. The contract spells out their obligations.
  2. A covenant brings unconditional responsibility, as opposed to the limited liability of a contract. No matter the changes in circumstances or attitudes of the partners, a covenant remains in effect, and is binding throughout life. It cannot be dissolved by either mutual agreement or arbitrary decision.

A “vow” is a promise an individual makes to The LORD, but in covenant vows God responds with a promise as well, and because of His involvement in it, He regards the breaking of covenant with the utmost seriousness.

    • Numbers 30: 2 – “If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
    • Ecclesiastes 5: 5, 6 – “It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the works of your hands?”

    For most of us today the marriage vow is the only form of covenant that we will ever pledge, and many of us have trouble honoring just that one. We complain that we didn’t make real vows during our wedding ceremony. Or if we did actually say vow words, we either didn’t truly mean them, or didn’t realize exactly what we were doing.  We decide that the ceremony words we exchanged, especially the ones involving “until death do us part”, or “for better or worse” aren’t binding.  They were just slipped in by sneaky church fathers determined to ruin our lives by thwarting any divorce plans.

    But that is precisely why God made marriage a covenant and not simply a contract. It is not a lightly made choice with an automatic ‘rescind’ option when things get uncomfortable.  Instead we are bound together, forming a single unit, as inseparable as The Trinity Itself, male and female halves of a whole.  God Himself forms the third cord in this unbreakable marital trinity, and “…a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”  (Ecclesiastes 4: 12)

    When you and your future spouse choose to pledge marriage vows, you are also pledging them to Our Father, and He hears you loud and clear. Only when you can both commit to fulfilling such a covenant pledge, are you truly ready to marry.

    Much Joy and Shalom in 2017!

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