THE MARRIAGE COVENANT 1- THE BINDING EFFECT

We were visiting with some of our friends some years ago. The husband humorously said, “Please, tell my wife to remove her ring”. We looked towards the wife while she struggled to pull the ring out. Apparently, she added weight in pregnancy that made the wedding ring tighter in our hands. The husband started laughing. He then went ahead to remove his own and put it back.

While we were wondering what the illustration was about, he started laughing and sarcastically said, “You see, she is stuck with me for life, but me, I am free”. We laughed at his unserious joke. The wife had her own clap back.

It was a joke, but truly, a marriage will struggle where one party understands covenant while the other party just knows convenience- a Christian marriage must be founded on the covenant.

The marriage covenant, in simplicity, is a binding agreement between a man and a woman who are legally and spiritually joined together as husband and wife. When a covenant is not understood, marriage is always abused.

Think about the word “binding”. First, in a construction site, the concrete is made up of different materials. It is made up of sand and gravel, with water and cement serving as the binding agents. It goes through a process of hydration, which hardens it up to a single stone-like structure. Is there a way to separate all those materials and still retain them as whole single units? It is not possible. It will be a total mess.

It is the same way when the Bible says that a man and his wife have become one:

Matthew 19:6 NKJV

So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

You are no longer two. You are one. You cannot hurt your spouse and not injure yourself in the covenant. You cannot beat the concrete wall and say, “It is only the sand I am beating and not the gravel”. It is impossible. You cannot look down on your spouse and think you will rise. No!

Do you know the motto of one of the unions in the country? An injury to one is an injury to all! That is exactly what the marriage covenant is. You cannot injure one without the other.

There is a truly happy husband of a sad wife, and there is no truly happy wife of a sad husband. That is how powerful the covenant is.

Did you see that?