Chapter 2 - Finding God in Marriage

Here is a brief look at chapter 2 in the book "Sacred Marriage".

Hosea leads us into the reality that God views His people as a husband views his wife. "In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master'...I will betroth you to me forever" (Hosea 2:16, 19a). God wants us to relate to Him with an obedience fueled by love and intimacy, not by self-motivated fear, and with a loyalty to a divine-human relationship, not a blind adherence to "principles".

How do you view God - as master or a husband?

We are to use our marriage to explore God. Not to be consumed with highlighting where our spouses fall short. If that is what we are doing, we will miss the divine mysteries of marriage and the lessons it has to teach us.

As long as we are married we continue to display, however imperfectly, the ongoing commitment between Christ and His church. Knowing why we are married and should stay married is crucial. The key question is "Will we approach marriage with a God-centered view or a man-centered view"?

Man-centered: Maintain as long as our earthly comforts, desires and expectations are met.

God-centered: Preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points a sinful world to a reconciling Creator.


Our 1st goal in marriage is to please God. The challenge is that it requires utterly selfless living.


Strong Christian marriages will still be struck by lightening - sexual temptation, communication problems, etc. but if our marriage is heavily watered with an unwavering commitment to please God above everything else, the conditions won't be ripe for a devastating fire to follow the lightening strike.


To sum it up:

Our marriages can be platforms for evangelism. They can draw people into a truth that points beyond this world into the next. Just by sticking it out in our marriages, we can build a monument to the principle and the practice of reconciliation.