Hello ladies, I hope y’all are having a great day so far. Today we will learn how marriage can become an idol. Open your bibles to Ephesians 5:22-33.
Marriage is a beautiful, earthly example of God’s love. It is the closest we will get to experiencing His love besides our own relationship with Him. Our culture has made marriage the ultimate goal in life- we are consistently seeking for someone’s love and approval. Obviously, God created marriage so it is good. Knowing someone on such an emotional, psychological, and mental level is so pure. There are no words to describe how much love goes into knowing that one person. This is how God intended marriage- to be pure, joyful, innocent.
I believe many people today take marriage for granted. We are filled with these fairytales of what relationships are supposed to look like. We are supposed to jump through all of these hoops and go through all these obstacles, some of that may be true, but most of it was created by our realistic thinking. Our spouses do not come first- Jesus does. Always! Jesus should always be the center of our hearts, if He isn’t, then our spouse has become our idol. I’m not married. I could write a book on unhealthy relationships (and not just romantically). God has blessed me with an incredible man who shows me grace, compassion, lots of patience daily. He sees all the good in me (despite all the times I test him), he sees the grace Jesus has given me, and he plans to spend the rest of his life with me. THIS is how I believe God intended marriage.
When we chase after the relationship, we lose sight of Jesus. When we chase after the person because we don’t want to lose them, we lose sight of Jesus. When we chase after our dream of marriage so we stay in unhealthy relationships, we lose sight of Jesus. There is absolutely no judge here. I have done every single thing and more that I just listed above. I understand wanting to be loved, wanting to be seen, and wanting to be heard. We have a loving Savior to sees us. We don’t have to chase after Him. He’s wanting for us with open arms!
Let’s discuss what we just read. I have some questions that I want you to think about, write them down, and if you’d like to comment below we can discuss them together!
- In what ways are you tempted to idolize marriage?
- How does a biblical understanding of marriage shape your expectations for it?
- In what ways does the idolatry of marriage harm you and your current or future spouse?
- Marriage cannot meet our deepest needs, but Christ can. Journal through the ways He fulfills our greatest needs.
Sweetheart, I have been through it all. I cannot stress that enough. I harmed my last relationship with my desire to be married. It was also an abusive relationship and I stayed for much longer than I should have. I told myself that that’s what you did in relationships, you stayed in the good and the bad… but you don’t. Especially, if you aren’t married. I always have to learn the hard way. But thankfully, Jesus has my best interest at heart.
I hope you enjoy this study and decide to come back. Tomorrow, we’ll learn about Children and how they can become an idol. I hope you enjoy the beautiful sunset that was made by our loving Father and y’all have a wonderful night.