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Marriage Articles I Promise
Marriage Articles I Promise
I Promise
Thursday, 01 November 2007 08:48 | 
Written by Celena Owens |
�I PROMISE, I PROMISE, I PROMISE! Lord, if You just give me a spouse; give me the house; give me the job - I PROMISE I PROMISE I PROMISE! I promise to love, honor, cherish and obey them. I promise to clean the house every day. I promise I�ll get to work early and stay late. I PROMISE, I PROMISE, I PROMISE!�
Really.
Sometimes we can all make promises, pledges and commitments - even in good faith - without fully understanding that these free-flowing words are really vows. The dictionary defines a vow as being a specific, solemn (sacred) promise. This promise is one by which a person binds himself to an act, a service or condition. Repeatedly in Scripture we find that the Lord binds Himself to us - no matter our acts, our services or our conditions before Him. Even though the Lord is Sovereign and truly has all carte blanche, the Word still says that He has given us power in our tongues. Life (or death) begin with the words that we speak. With that understanding, we�re blessed to remember that when we desire, promise, and commit, God is expecting something from us. It�s reciprocal of how when God promises to us, we then expect from Him. Throughout the Psalms we�re gratefully excited at the written assurance that God has heard us. Knowing this, our commitments, promises and pledges unto the Lord should be spoken with the same reverence and sincerity as our praises, worship and thank You�s unto Him.
Once a man and woman consent to meet at God�s altar for marriage, they are to present all of themselves to Him. We present all of who we are before God. The altar of God is such an enhancing place, because it represents a place of sacrifice, surrender and dying. It therefore becomes a place of exchange, enrichment and support. It�s a place of binding. Sacrifices were often taken to the altar to be lifted up before the Lord. To me, this is an aspect of marriage. When you acknowledge and lift up the sacrifice of your betrothed before the Lord, it shows God (and all of heaven that�s at attention) that you are committed, willing and vowed to accepting what your mate has just exposed - themselves. This is a vow that God does not take lightly. Why is it serious to Him? Earthly marriage is the example that God has chosen to use to demonstrate His devotion and commitment to us as believers. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Therefore marriage should never be taken lightly. We must remember that we are representing God in all we do.
I believe God does desire for us to verbalize our commitments - to Him and to one another. The mandate emitting from James 5:16 reaffirms that. With the power of our confession assured, we see the beautiful marital promises revealed through scripture by the Holy Spirit. These pledges descry your heart�s oath for your lovely one. Once projected, these scriptures leave no room for doubt.
Elisha required horses of fire before he would ever break covenant to Elijah. Ruth�s commitment to Naomi surpassed even death - she was committed unto burial. These are just two examples of loyally submitting to the Christ in a partner.
Vows are very important to God. Both Ecclesiastes 5 and Deuteronomy 23:21-22 admonish us not to speak them if we feel we would not be willing to repay them. God requires us to keep our word. Matthew 12:36 reminds us that every idle word spoken will have to be accounted for. Therefore we should all try to speak what we mean and be committed to what we say. Psalm 15:4 assures us that this a prerequisite to dwelling on and never being removed from the holy hill of the Lord - a place where we�d all like to be, fulfilling our vows unto the Lord.
� 2007 by Celena Owens
Really.
Sometimes we can all make promises, pledges and commitments - even in good faith - without fully understanding that these free-flowing words are really vows. The dictionary defines a vow as being a specific, solemn (sacred) promise. This promise is one by which a person binds himself to an act, a service or condition. Repeatedly in Scripture we find that the Lord binds Himself to us - no matter our acts, our services or our conditions before Him. Even though the Lord is Sovereign and truly has all carte blanche, the Word still says that He has given us power in our tongues. Life (or death) begin with the words that we speak. With that understanding, we�re blessed to remember that when we desire, promise, and commit, God is expecting something from us. It�s reciprocal of how when God promises to us, we then expect from Him. Throughout the Psalms we�re gratefully excited at the written assurance that God has heard us. Knowing this, our commitments, promises and pledges unto the Lord should be spoken with the same reverence and sincerity as our praises, worship and thank You�s unto Him.
Once a man and woman consent to meet at God�s altar for marriage, they are to present all of themselves to Him. We present all of who we are before God. The altar of God is such an enhancing place, because it represents a place of sacrifice, surrender and dying. It therefore becomes a place of exchange, enrichment and support. It�s a place of binding. Sacrifices were often taken to the altar to be lifted up before the Lord. To me, this is an aspect of marriage. When you acknowledge and lift up the sacrifice of your betrothed before the Lord, it shows God (and all of heaven that�s at attention) that you are committed, willing and vowed to accepting what your mate has just exposed - themselves. This is a vow that God does not take lightly. Why is it serious to Him? Earthly marriage is the example that God has chosen to use to demonstrate His devotion and commitment to us as believers. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Therefore marriage should never be taken lightly. We must remember that we are representing God in all we do.
I believe God does desire for us to verbalize our commitments - to Him and to one another. The mandate emitting from James 5:16 reaffirms that. With the power of our confession assured, we see the beautiful marital promises revealed through scripture by the Holy Spirit. These pledges descry your heart�s oath for your lovely one. Once projected, these scriptures leave no room for doubt.
Elisha required horses of fire before he would ever break covenant to Elijah. Ruth�s commitment to Naomi surpassed even death - she was committed unto burial. These are just two examples of loyally submitting to the Christ in a partner.
Vows are very important to God. Both Ecclesiastes 5 and Deuteronomy 23:21-22 admonish us not to speak them if we feel we would not be willing to repay them. God requires us to keep our word. Matthew 12:36 reminds us that every idle word spoken will have to be accounted for. Therefore we should all try to speak what we mean and be committed to what we say. Psalm 15:4 assures us that this a prerequisite to dwelling on and never being removed from the holy hill of the Lord - a place where we�d all like to be, fulfilling our vows unto the Lord.
� 2007 by Celena Owens
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