Marriage from a bachelor's perspective (Written in August 2005)

Am 26 and Indian. Quite a qualification to be considered a marriageable age. But in an Indian setting that’s all that is required, age and job. By Gods grace I have both. So in my country I would be like an eligible bachelor. But there is a problem, I am not in India.

Anyway I was just spending some time thinking on the Christian perspective of marriage from a bachelor’s point of view. Although am not directly quoting from the bible, I assume that the reader would know which book / verse am referring to in the Bible.

Only in the Christian context, marriage is taken beyond the normal humanistic context of family background and children and in laws and cultures and tradition and society.

Marriage in the Christian context goes much beyond the parameters mentioned above. It is not only two beings coming together as one, but two beings coming together as one for a purpose. That purpose is Gods will and His desire for them. Following is just a quote from one of the letters that a young man sent to a young lady, both seeking Gods will and direction in marriage in a Christian perspective
Quote

Apart from being a believer, on a specific level I see my spouse as my best friend. Now this might raise several other questions, like what’s a friend? Well, a friend for me is the one who loves regardless of the weaknesses he sees in the other person, trusting each other no matter what the relationship is going thru, does not base decisions on emotions or feelings, but is a friend because of conviction and a commitment made to each other. So even when you don’t feel like loving, you still do, because that is the right thing to do. One who does not get blown away by silly gossips, or is driven by passion, but is firmly rooted in trust. Because loving as a friend does, is an enormous commitment. It demands time, seeps you of that last ounce of energy, it makes you go that 2 miles, when you are asked to go 1, it is that which makes you eat your pride by making you show the other cheek, when you have just been slapped on one. Life partners stand for one another no matter what, not only because they are friends, but because they have committed their lives to one another even as Christ has done for us. I look to my spouse to constantly keep me on my guard, constantly challenging me, discussing with me, disagreeing with me, communicating constantly with me (even when it doesn’t feel like it), respecting each others views, because there is never a reason to be unkind, and above all retaining her identity as an individual because that’s the way God ultimately sees us. As a husband I see my role as a person, investing my life in this person that only God has brought into my life so that she becomes the person God intends her to be.

Unquote

Taken in this context, Gods view of marriage goes beyond one can imagine on a human platform. In fact the whole of Bible could be viewed as something that culminates into a marriage, a marriage of the church and the Lamb.
Let me elaborate. Glimpses / shadows of the bridegroom are given in the Old Testament, the Bridegroom is introduced in the person of Christ in the new testament through the four gospels, the bride is established in the book of Acts in the form of the Church, the Bridegroom and the bride exchange letters before the marriage which is evidenced by the 21 epistles and finally the wedding takes place in book of Revelation.
This is a marvelous perspective of what a marriage in a biblical worldview is.

So in a sense as men all of us aim to be as Christ the perfect bridegroom, who laid down his life for his bride, but God that he is, he raised himself up to lay the glorious foundation for a wonderful hope, that someday he will comeback to takes us to where he is.
As a husband and wife we still are his bride, awaiting his return.
Marriage in a Christian worldview goes beyond the ‘now’. When in heaven on a relational level there wouldn’t be any husbands and wives, we would be individuals who were responsible for each other while on earth, so that Gods purposes could be accomplished.

And so as young person, I would completely agree with my friend whom I have quoted above. Life takes a new meaning when as Husband and Wife, each sees their role as a person, investing their lives in each other so that each becomes the person God intends them to be.

Amen.