Day Seven: An Attractive Marriage
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. –Ephesians 5:32
I remember being mesmerized as a child by my shadow. I not only enjoyed the finer things like shadow puppets but also quickly learned that I could make myself a giant if I positioned my body correctly. Shadows are often a distorted view of what they are imaging. The profound mystery to which Paul referred to in Ephesians 5 is that our one flesh union with our spouse is a picture of the union that believers share with Christ. Our marriage is a shadow of an ultimate reality.
If our marriages image the relationship between Christ and the church, we should labor to present as accurate a picture as two redeemed sinners can portray. The way we love one another and relate to one another should cause others to want to be married. It should be our goal to have an attractive marriage—one that rightly images Christ. It’s easy to lose sight of this goal, but your marriage is a giant billboard to the world of the greatness of Christ. Pray today that through God’s grace our marriages are attractive.
Lord, we know that you do not look upon appearances but upon the heart. We confess that so often we’d rather appear to have it all together rather than to actually image Christ. We pray that you would help us to love one another deeply from the heart, and that this intense love would cause our marriage to shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. Help our dedication to one another be a beautiful picture of your unfailing dedication to us. Thank you that even though our shadows are at times distorted that Christ will never fail us, and all that He has is ours. Amen.
