Marriage.

This Saturday my older brother will be getting married. He will see his bride walk down an aisle, make some very special vows, be united with a woman till death does he part, eat some cake, dance, and leave for a honeymoon. All these things are great, but does he really know what he is getting into? No. No unmarried person can possibly begin to comprehend the amazing, beautiful, sometimes frustrating, but blessed gift of marriage. Even if you know a person your whole life, there is something about marriage that just sets the relationship apart. This union is holy and sacred, just as God meant it to be. There are so many things that i want to tell him to help him be a better husband and better man, things to expect, and things not to expect, but i think all of it can be summed up in that God made marriage to make you holy not happy.

This sounds so strange and our flashy culture which would instantly label me as crazy, but it is so true. If your getting into marriage because you think a person will make you happy, I've got some non-sugarcoated new for you, they won't...at least not always. God uses a husband and wife to sharpen each other. I mean gosh, within our first year of marriage God revealed sin in my life that i never knew i had, and used Jonathan to help me realize my sin and then help me get through it. Even when God isn't revealing major sin in my life, he still uses jonathan to help me get over those selfish, mundane tendencies in me that keep me from God. Its not pretty, it doesn't make me happy, but sanctification isn't always a fun process, but being closer to God is and He is worth it.

Why holy and not happy? Because God isn't concerned with the trifle things of this world that give us a temporary buzz...He wants all of us to be wrapped up in all of Him. He wants us to be holy as he is Holy, and the only way we can do that is through Christ, not in seeking something that was never meant to fill us anyways. My brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, do not be fooled into thinking that you deserve to be happy and that that is what marriage was supposed to provide. No, God uses marriage to point us to him and to make us holy, as Christ is holy.

Grace and Peace.
Sarah B.