Marriage

A little boy asked his mom why the girl wears all white at a wedding. His mom said, “The girl is called a ‘bride,’ and she wears white because it is the happiest day of her life.” The boy then asked, “Why is the guy dressed in all black?”

In 2016, a 70-year-old man named Lawrence Ripple walked into a bank near police headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas, and handed the teller a note that read, “I have a gun, give me money.” After receiving nearly $3,000 from the teller, he sat down in the bank lobby and waited for officers to arrive. Ripple admitted to robbing the bank because he would rather be in jail than live at home with his wife. In a humorous display of justice, he was sentenced to six months of home confinement.

We live in a time when public perception of marriage is diminishing. Many view it like a hot bath — once you get used to it, it’s not so hot. However, the biblical perception of marriage is much better than that. It presents the union of a man and his wife as a tremendous gift to be enjoyed and appreciated. For instance, Solomon wrote, “Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love” (Proverbs 5:18-19). He also wrote, “The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22) and encouraged his readers to “live happily with the wife you love” (Ecclesiastes 9:9).

God did not intend for marriage to be a burden, but a blessing. He saw that it was “not good” for man to be alone, so He made a wife to be his compatible companion. She was “a helper who is just right for him” (Genesis 2:18). May we always value this special blessing from God!