"Live happily with the woman you love though all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil." (Ecclesiastes 9:9 NLT)
"Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." (Malachi 2:14-15 KJV)
Sorry if I might have made a mistake, or so it seems; but since we were talking about joy and happiness, I thought it only fitting to add verse 9 into the mix: after all, if you have a wife that is happy, then you will have a happy life! But, on the other hand, if you don't treat your wife as you should, your wife will not be happy, and your life will be missing out on the happiness you would have enjoyed as being one!
This passage from Malachi might seem a little bit twisted and hard to understand; but there is something very important about the man and woman becoming one. As most of us know, when the husband and wife are joined in Holy Matrimony, they take on more than just their vows; they are making a covenant before God, to which God responds with joining the two together, as the two bodies become one.
There is really a lot more to it than that, but for the most part, it is something special: when the one hurts, the other hurts also; when the one is happy, the other is also happy: at least that is the way it was meant to be! This word for treacherously is pretty much the same as transgress, which, if you know what it means in reference to our attitude towards God's law, we know we are stepping over the line, but we do it anyways, as if we really don't care.
Basically, it means that you do whatever with intent, deceitfully, and faithlessly. Please give up doing anything that you do that might offend one another; especially you men! You are the one who is given the responsibility to love first, as Paul instructs us: "love your wives, just as Christ loved the church." (Ephesians 5:25) Your wife will respond to that love, just as the church responds to the love of Christ...
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and see that she reverence her husband." (Ephesians 5:25-33 KJV)
No comments:
Post a Comment