Pursuing Love While Considering Divorceနမူနာ

God’s Original Plan for Marriage Now that we have an understanding of how sin corrupts our relationships, we can look closely at the original, perfect plan for marriage that sin has broken. As we look at this, keep in mind that God has an incredible amount of grace for His people. Even when we don’t execute this perfectly, He loves us and helps give us the power we need to strive for better relationships. As we saw yesterday, God designed marriage for unity. Literally, God formed Eve out of Adam’s body. They were intimately intertwined with each other. When Adam first meets his bride, he sings of the intimate relationship. “This, at last, is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 1:23) Adam’s use of the word “at last” implies that he eagerly waited for someone like this. Before creating Eve, God declared that Adam being alone was not good. He created marriage as a solution. After Jesus’ time on earth, Paul shows us how the “profound mystery” of marriage reflects Christ’s love for His people. Husbands lay their lives down for their wives and wives submit their lives to their husbands. If we think back to the original sin, we can see that Adam and Eve did not practice this type of mutual sacrifice once they had eaten the fruit. Adam’s immediate accusation of Eve shows that he was not laying his life down. He was more so pushing her life down in front of him. Likewise, Eve ate the fruit, knowing it was forbidden, without any of Adam’s input on the matter. They separated from each other and did not live in the unity God had for them. Ignoring God’s design for unity and intimate community within marriage will always result in fractured relationships. The scriptures from today will help you see God’s perfect design for marriage. Pray that He gives you a desire to live out this kind of marriage.