Marriage

---

Psalm 19 speaks figuratively of the sunrise as a groom coming out of his chamber rejoicing like a champion athlete to run his race. (verse 5) As an Olympic runner must wait for the sound of the gun to spring off the starting blocks and begin the race, so must a man and a woman wait for their wedding to begin their married life together if they are to conform to the Biblical pattern for courtship and marriage. Yet in this day and age many couples, even professing Christian couples, are putting the cart before the horse, and “jumping the gun” and living together before the wedding, if there is, in fact, any thought at all of a wedding or a marriage.

And, as would be the case in an actual Olympic race or in high school and college track competition, jumping the gun results in disqualification. What this means for believers in Jesus Christ is that they are effectively eliminating themselves from the prospect of having any legitimate ministry or testimony together. Many church leaders are choosing not to “rock the boat” and are simply looking the other way and failing to confront the issue, perhaps for fear they may lose attendance or financial support if they did. This is tragic in that many young couples are thus losing their opportunities to grow together in ministry and to have a positive impact for God in the world around them.
There are so many around them in society who will assure them that it doesn’t really matter, that, after all this is the 21st century, etc. etc. But they will never convince committed believers of this, nor can they even convince their own consciences. As a cohabiting friend of mine admitted to me, “It weighs upon me every day.” It’s becoming more and more dangerous and corrosive to one’s own soul to live with or accept the ongoing presence of that kind of “weight.”

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR