Enjoying your marriage in a glorious togetherness

By Taiwo Akinola

Marriage can be a happy and beautiful venture only when certain critical success factors are well considered and factored into it’s structure. In particular, homes can be quite godly and yet very happy where necessary Bible ingredients are cherished as imperatives within their walls.
Firstly, it is very important to constantly assess the foundation upon which you are building your marriage, and to effect necessary repairs where applicable. A marriage is as strong as the basis on which it is founded; its stability and durability depend on the depth and the strength of its base.
A marriage built on a solid and deep foundation will not only survive but also thrive amid terrible storms of life (Matthew 7:24-25). On the contrary, anything built on a faulty foundation risks an ultimate collapse. And, without fear of overemphasis, anything including marriage, built on a faulty foundation only awaits a collapse, unless some pragmatic steps are taken.
It should be emphasized that the choice of a spouse is a paramount factor in marital success. In fact, the single most dangerous mistake anyone can make in life is in relation to the choice of marital partner.
Marriage union tends to be happy only when a good man marries a good woman, but that happens when the right choice is made and deliberate efforts are put in place to build up the union. Nothing compares with the will of God in marriage.
Unfortunately, today, there are many couples who seem to be in perpetual emotional pain because their marriages are contracted on faulty foundations and plagued with gross ignorance as to how to tackle the mess in which they have found themselves.
For the avoidance of doubt, marital relationships that will be enjoyed must be built on Christ and God’s principles (1 Corinthians 3:11).
From the marriage standards that God set in Eden, we can deduce that God’s presence in a marital relationship is primary to the success of the holy union.
The word “Eden” is an Hebrew word, which means “where God dwells”. Thus, the first thing God gave man was “His Presence”, and hence, the first thing a man needs is not a woman, it is the presence of God. A woman should delight in meeting her spouse in the presence of God, or allow the man to remain alone.
No matter what you put into your marriage, if the foundation is faulty, that marriage may not last (Psalm 11:3). However, when a marriage with faulty foundations is genuinely submitted to the righteousness of Christ, the couple is no longer helpless, because there is nothing too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:17).
Moreover, whenever repair needs are identified in our homes, we must allow the Divine Axe to go right down to the roots and uproot unprofitable plantations.

Thirdly, loving God fervently and serving Him faithfully together is a major imperative for couples that dream of a glorious and joyful togetherness under the watchful eyes of God.
Before you ever had love for each other as a couple, God had sketched out your lives and what He certainly expects or longs for in your life (Jeremiah 29:11). Yes, God fashioned your destiny before you were born (Psalm 139:16).
As pointed out earlier, marriage should not be seen as an end in itself. The goals in marriage go beyond the nuptial flights and the pleasure. In other words, we did not come to the earth just to marry, procreate and die, but rather to fulfill God’s Ultimate Purpose.

Happy Sunday!