Covenant Marriage of a man and woman before God is a significant step for any couple to take. Despite the erosion, the devaluation of marriage that has occurred throughout most of the world it is still the aspiration of many to get married. In Australia in fact, according to the ABS the total number of marriages for 2024 was 120,844 and 96.1% were according to God’s design of marriage. Regrettably, the ABS no longer shows the number of marriages undertaken by a “minister of religion”, but recent history shows that these numbers were well down.

Our marriages are built on relationship, love, trust and more; this can only come through investing time together before marriage and having those deep conversations in preparation for marriage. People spend a lot of money on “the wedding”, which is just one day, but rarely invest much time in preparing for marriage which is for life!

We can largely assess the priorities in a person’s life by what takes up most of their time. Regrettably, the time spent together often diminishes after marriage as they chase careers, follow sports, or get distracted by other things.

We in the church, who know Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, will all be married in the fullness of time, for there is the coming “wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself”. The question is how much of the church, his bride, prepared herself. Just as we might get distracted from investing time with our earthly spouse, this happens within the church membership. This being shown by the time they spend with the Lord whether in the Word, prayer or praise and worship.

It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

Isaiah 55:11 [NLT]

Marriage Week provides a chance to recognize and celebrate marriages. This applies to those in the church and beyond, focusing on building strong relationships through adjustments to life’s priorities. As husband and wife spend time together seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord they will find that they themselves grow closer together.

Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.
She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

Revelation 19:6-9 [NLT]

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