Oprah. Dr. Phil. Anderson Cooper. The View. Obama. Dobson. Smalley. Pastors. Books. Magazines. Movies. Celebrities.
All of the above mentioned people, things, and mediums have something to say about marriage. From believing in the self to have the power to change the other all the way to believing in marriage as an equal opportunity for both homosexuals and heterosexuals, there are impending view dictating how we think, act, and talk about marriage.
What is the standard? If television, celebrity, politics, and publications are deciding what the newest way to think about marriage is, then the standard upon which we build our perceptions of marriage is ever changing. This is a dangerous precedent. It is from this place of ever changing views that marriage become just another fade to participate in and the wedding is intended to trump the one before it. We live in dangerous times. The expectation for how to live a Godly life often becomes subjected to these impending views and the scariest part is that we as Christians get equally as lost in the mix. We must be willing to anchor ourselves in the truth about marriage - and when we are anchored in the truth about marriage, then and only then will the impending views begin to align with what the Lord intended marriage to be. The logic being - if we, as individuals are striving to live within the Lord's marital standard, then as the individuals make up communities, communities will begin to change those polluted views.
John H. Coe and Todd W. Hall comment:
Given that Christian realities ground our transformational model of psychology, it is our highest priority to understand those shared realities and truths of the faith that help frame both our existence as well as the contours of doing psychology. The following are some of the central realities and truths that we know by faith in experiences:
- God exists
- We are created in the image of God to rule, understand, and properly relate to creation as fundamentally relational beings
- We are sinners saved by grace through the finished work of Christ on the cross
- We are now a new creature "in Christ"
- Being fundamentally relational, our ultimate end or purpose in life in Christ is loving neighbors and God, glorifying him forever "so that God will be all in all"
- This is only accomplished by being transformed into the image of Christ by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who in union with our spirits to fill us with the fullness of his presence so that all of life is for the sake of his glory and ends
- God has taken special care to reveal these truths in scripture and, in part, in the believer's experience
These truths frame and inform our existence...of knowing and being rightly related to reality.
Coe and Hall lay our what scripture says to be our standard upon which to build our marriages. We must strive to adhere to the promises of life as new creations and in living as new creations we are able to enter into relationship with others wholly. Marriage then will be a unified joining of two souls inextricably founded on the promises of who God says they are. The standard for marriage should not be something we idly sit by and allow impending view to define. The standard should begin with Christians pressing into Jesus Christ and then working with spouses to make every aspect of their lives reflect the glory of God - beginning with their marriages.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.
The only impending view that matters.