Why Marriage?

This past Saturday hubby and I were blessed to attend a wedding. I love weddings. There is something so deeply beautiful and holy about a wedding. In fact, the Bible even refers to the church as the “bride of Christ.” Sounds a little weird until you watch a wedding and it hits you like a ton of bricks, just how much Jesus loves his church. And you…

Jesus loves you. He stands, absolutely beaming, as he watches every step that you take while being guided by the Father straight into his arms. He takes you by the hands and vows his faithfulness, in your sickness and in health, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, never to part.

He doesn’t place a ring on your finger but writes your very name on the palm of his hands… Scripture actually says all this.

And he lifts the veil… Oh, my favorite part- when the groom lifts the veil and kisses his bride… Jesus does that. He lifts the veil we wear over our mind and our heart. It has to be lifted, for it is impossible to be truly intimate wearing a veil.

And no, there is nothing physical or sexual involved with intimacy with Jesus. (Side note- I remember the first time I heard a nun talk about her joy over the thought of the intimacy she would have with Jesus in heaven and it totally freaked me out because I absolutely didn’t get it. My mind was veiled and my thoughts perverted. And of course now I am about to sound like the nun… Go figure.)

To hopefully help clarify, intimacy with God is so much greater than the sexual act of intimacy we see within the marriage. It is the beauty of a naked soul, a soul that desires for God to come into the most vulnerable, hidden, places and cover them with his love. Intimacy with God is what causes new life to begin forming in us. Our dreams, our passions, our hope, our very being all begin to form with new life. It all comes from intimate times when we draw close to God in prayer, in worship, in word, and in praise.

So why marriage? Why vows? Why taking a name? Perhaps because when done, we catch a glimpse of God’s love for us. He waits for us. He desires a covenant. He desires to gives us a new name. He too, will throw a banquet for us, and desires to dance with us in his heavenly dance.

Hubby and I never danced at the wedding reception. We took advantage of the opportunity to catch up with friends instead. But what we did do was even better. That night, we pulled up the same song the bride and groom danced to and we danced away in our kitchen. Just he and I, dancing that sacred dance of two souls, two wills, two separate beings, tied together and made one in a covenant that only grows sweeter with time. Dancing there I couldn’t help but consider the awesomeness of marriage, and the awesomeness of Christ’s love for his church.