I just happened to overhear a conversation this morning by someone who kept mentioning their ‘other half’ (or their ‘better-half’) who does this and does that but, this other person they are referring to is not their spouse, they are simply a person they live with, are sexually intimate with and whom they share a life with under the same roof.

However…this is not the same as marriage and never will be. It’s a poor man’s substitute for the real thing. Oh…it may seem like it’s the same thing and it may seem to have more benefits than marriage-whether financially or because technically there are no permanent ties in place where the other person can’t leave-but it’s not the same thing. It’s a knock-off. It’s the generic version of that which God originally intended. I mean…how can one be your ‘other half’ when you never joined to become ‘one flesh’ in the first place?

The devil has always wanted to be in the seat of God Himself and though he may temporarily be the God of this world, he is always looking up to the one who is the God over all and to the One who has already conquered the devil by the power of the cross. The devil offers cheap substitutes for the real thing. Marriage is the real thing. It was God’s plan for man and woman from the beginning and still is. The Bible states that God never changes (Malachi 3:6). He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Marriage has not changed nor has the relationship between a man and a woman. It’s God’s design for a ‘man to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife so that the two will become one flesh’. That means each person gives up their own identity to be joined to their spouse and they form a new identity in each other. They are one. This can never happen between two people who just ‘shack-up’ or ‘play house’. Oh it may seem fun and it may seem like the same thing as marriage but it’s not. One can never truly know the joys of being united to another except through the bond of marriage. Can it be hard? Yep. Does it mean laying down’s one’s selfishness? Yep. Does it mean sacrifice? Yep. Is there a payoff though? You bet there is! Sure it can tough but here is the kicker…the greatest joys come through the greatest sacrifices! God sacrificed His own Son for humanity…how many of you would sacrifice your child for another person? Especially for a person who was evil in nature and most of the time wanted nothing to do with you? But God did. He made the greatest sacrifice and has set the eternal example for us. Through the bond of marriage we learn what true love is. Not mushy-gushy love from that merely stemming from infatuation but from that of choice. Choice to love another person. Choice to lay down our rights for another. Choice to be joined as one.

Marriage is God’s design and always will be. Just as a thief is always looking for a way around the system to get what they want without paying the price, so has Satan blinded the world into thinking that living together with someone of the opposite sex and playing house, is the same as marriage. Never has been and never will be. May God be forever praised and may we put the institution of marriage back on the pedestal it never should have fallen from.

Blessings.