In today’s culture, marriage is little more than a mutual agreement to share a life and expenses while grinding away at work and playing hard on the weekend. A partnership of convenience, stripped of higher purpose, with mutual affection, or even love, mixed in.
You know this couple. You may be this couple. They got married to be married. Both work full time, their lives revolve around jobs that fund their weekends. No children are planned or desired. Their union lacks a calling beyond the here and now. Their days stretch into weekends, which stretch back into workweeks. And on it goes—a cycle without cause. It’s not a marriage; it’s a contract with no enduring purpose.
This trend is far too common, even among Christians. The problem isn’t that these couples lack love or respect for one another. The problem is deeper: a loss of vision for what marriage is meant to be. When stripped of its God-given purpose, marriage becomes a hollow shell, unable to deliver fulfillment and incapable of honoring God.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. God designed marriage for a purpose far greater than comfort or companionship. Embracing these purposes is the key to flourishing in marriage and glorifying the One who designed it.
Marriage is Ordained for the Mutual Help of Husband and Wife
God saw Adam alone in the garden and said it was not good. He made Eve, a helper fit for him (Genesis 2:18). From the start, marriage was about companionship, about two people working together through life’s trials and joys. A husband and wife were made to complement each other, to be stronger together than apart.
Paul tells husbands to love their wives like they love their own bodies (Ephesians 5:28). Peter says to live with them in understanding and honor, as co-heirs of life’s grace (1 Peter 3:7). Marriage is not a competition. It’s a partnership, a shared life. A husband cares for his wife, and she follows him as they run after the task God has given them.
Marriage is Ordained for the Increase of Mankind with Legitimate Issue and of the Church with an Holy Seed
“Be fruitful and multiply,” God told Adam (Genesis 1:28). After the flood, He told Noah the same (Genesis 9:1). Marriage isn't just to fill empty days or satisfy lonely hearts. It is to fill the earth with life, to bring new generations into the world.
Malachi asks, “What was the one God seeking? Godly offspring” (Malachi 2:15). Children are not burdens; they are blessings. They are the future of the Church. In marriage, God calls couples to raise them in faith, teaching them to know and love Him. A godly family grows not just in numbers but in devotion to the Lord.
Marriage Ordained for Preventing of Uncleanness
Paul doesn’t sugarcoat it: “Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Marriage sets boundaries for desire. It keeps passion where it belongs—within the covenant of marriage.
“For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:9) Marriage guards against sin, but it’s more than a safeguard. It’s a place where love and purity grow. A husband and wife, bound together, honor God in their union. This is not just about avoiding wrong. It’s about living right, together.
To the Men
I hope these points are helpful for those married and those desiring to be married. But my main exhortation is to the men reading this. I know too well that wrong desire to make marriage all about self. I put off children longer than I should have. I lived a life that was easy and simple— I got to eat out and buy stuff and have sex. I lived for my own convenience and desires. And in this I failed as a man. I failed as a husband.
Men, pay attention: don’t waste your marriage. Don’t settle for a life of comfort and consumption. You were made for more than this. Your marriage was made for more than this.
Start Here
Evaluate Your Priorities. Look at your schedule, your bank account, your dreams. Are you living for fleeting pleasures or eternal purposes? Are you building a life that honors God, or just coasting through the week?
(If needed) Rethink Having Children. Reject the culture’s disdain for children. They are not interruptions to your marriage; they are the purpose of it.
Lead with Vision. Sit down with your wife. Pray together. Ask God to reveal how He wants to use your marriage for His glory. Dream together about how you can live out His purposes.
Aim Higher. Reject the aimlessness of a worldly marriage. Instead, embrace the divine purposes of marriage. Build a union that reflects the gospel, nurtures life, and glorifies God.
It’s never too late to realign your marriage with God’s vision. His grace is sufficient to restore and renew.
Start today. Pray. Seek His will. And then, by God’s grace, live it out.
Don’t waste your marriage. Make it count.
Comentários