Before you take the plunge...

 

"MARRIAGE ISN'T FOR EVERYONE."  MATTHEW 19:11 TM
 
A third-grade teacher received this hilarious essay on Ben Franklin: "Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, but he didn't like it there so he traveled to Philadelphia. When he got off the boat he walked up the street and bought a loaf of bread. Then he met a lady and discovered electricity!" We smile, but as one marriage counselor observes, "Society has made romance the basis for marriage. Now there's nothing wrong with romance; it's a potent force in driving people into matrimony. But it's become the primary factor. Romance is highly conditional on physical appearance. Romantic love excites and entices, which means there's often shallowness about romantic relationships. Because emotions are so overpowering people don't realize what they're getting into till it's too late. One morning you look across the bed and she's not awake yet. Her mouth's open and her hair's hanging over her face. Or worse, she wakes first, looks across the bed, and in your case there's no hair hanging down! That's when romance takes a nose dive!"

A marriage is what you create after the wedding. It doesn't just happen. You have to build it with courtesy, patience, support, and a "love marked by giving, not getting" (Ephesians 5:21-18 TM). That's why Jesus said, "Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn't for everyone...if you're capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it." On the other hand, a husband and wife who put Christ at the center of their relationship, can grow it into something that makes society's definition of romance look light-weight by comparison.