the pursuit of godliness

Marriage is the display of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and His people. Ephesians 5:25-33 says,

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Marriage is the doing of God. It is made by God and kept together by God. It is also meant to glorify God. Marriage is God’s design and is possible by our justification through Christ and God’s covenant love to us through Christ. 

When two people pursue marriage, they are pursuing something holy, something created by God.

On the other hand, Satan is always seeking to undermine the will of God, to derail us from pursuing God, to break apart what God has created and set in place, to distort His word. 

 Just yesterday, my fiancé and I had our worst fight yet [though in retrospect could have been easily resolved] and it showed how easily we respond to sin and to the deceit and lies of Satan and give in to our selfishness and sinfulness. It showed how prideful we are.

A dating couple will have a hard battle [just as every Christian wages battle against sin] against sin and Satan, but an engaged couple faces an even greater battle as they approach ever closer toward the covenant of marriage, toward that which God has created, because Satan will be trying ever harder to break them apart, to break that which God has made.

But there’s hope amidst the battle. We know that Christ has already won the war. In Matthew 4:1-11 we see Jesus Christ being tempted by Satan and prevailing. Jesus Christ is our example in our fight against Satan. The Word is our weapon in our battle against Satan; we are to meditate on it, hide it in our hearts, and wield it as Christ did. And Christ is our righteousness, the perfect righteousness we need. He is our deliverer and Savior. We remember in Hebrews 4:15-16 that we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with out weaknesses, who has been tempted as we are but without sin.  Without Him, without the cross, without His blood, we would be dead in our trespasses. There would be no covenant with God. But we have Christ. We have the cross. We have been justified.

Whether you are single, dating, engaged, or married, we are all fighting against sin and the deceit of Satan. And it is a hard fight. But when the skies get rough and the road gets tough, and you find yourself despairing, or you find yourselves going through trying times with your loved one, remember that Satan is crouching by the door. Don’t let him gain a foothold. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger either. Remember the cross, remember forgiveness. Remember that God will one day defeat Satan and cast him forever into the burning lake. Remember that with the Spirit you are able to defeat sin. Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ; keep fighting.