To truly understand marriage, we must return to its origin in Genesis 1–3, where God first designed it and where sin first disrupted it. These foundational chapters reveal not only what went wrong but also the hope that began to set everything right.
Marriage falls apart when selfishness takes over. If you want a Christ-centered marriage, stop making it about you and start serving your spouse like Jesus served you—selflessly, sacrificially, and without waiting for another to deserve it.
What God has joined together, let no children separate. If you’re not careful, prioritizing your children can lead to neglecting your spouse.
1 Peter 3:1-7 – When marital expectations are unmet, we often blame our spouses instead of looking to ourselves for any needed changes. Discover who your spouse needs you to be and make any adjustments necessary for a healthier marriage.
If you are planning on getting married, it is vital that you consider your general and specific reasons. Why do you want to get married in the first place?
Knowing yourself allows you to understand the type of person you need to marry. You were made uniquely, and it will take a particular kind of person to walk alongside you for life.
Many people feel stuck in a marriage that they seek to improve, only to be met with resistance or complacency from a spouse. While a healthy marriage depends on two people putting in the effort, you might have to resort to an individual strategy.
Adultery creates a type of pocket universe with two people living selfishly inside of it and disregarding the needs of those they have sworn to love. Flee from this sin as if your life depends on it because, in many ways, it does.
People typically don’t spend their wedding day planning on how they can have an affair in the near future, but that doesn’t stop the unfortunate sin from transpiring. With affairs, common traits are typically present and must be avoided.
To partake in adultery is to seek temporal satisfaction while neglecting long-term consequences. Discover what God’s Word says about this sin and how to avoid it.
To have a healthy marriage, you need to evaluate how healthy your parents’ relationship was in your home growing up. This process might be the single issue that starts your marriage with the greatest potential to finish well.
If husbands want to have a better marriage, then they need to do a better job of loving their wives. Do not wait around for your wife to make a change that you could start.
If you are considering marriage, God did not leave you on your own to discover how to succeed. He has given you everything required to have a healthy relationship from the very beginning.
If you are considering marriage, I want to caution you in the right type of way. You can have a healthy marriage, but you both have to hold to one central focus to succeed.
Nothing can bring strain to a newly married couple like debt. Do what you can to reduce debt together and enjoy the freedom you were meant to experience.
Our hobbies can easily become our obsessions when we spend more thoughts, time, effort, and money on them than anything else. Learn to like your hobbies and love your spouse.
Exodus 20:14 – The seventh commandment warned the people against breaking marriage vows and entangling themselves in forbidden relationships. To avoid adultery, we must cherish marriage.
Marriage cannot work if someone has a higher priority than the spouse. There must be a thorough yet healthy leaving of one’s initial family and a complete and eager cleaving of one’s unique spouse.
Plan for a daily connection, a weekly date, and a yearly getaway for your marriage. If any or all of those three seem impossible to obtain, that reveals how great the need is.
No person can navigate life successfully by attempting it alone. We need one another, and marriage is one of God’s gifts to address our loneliness.
If your spouse has hurt you, the issue must be addressed, but avoid showing frustration to one another for things other people have done. Don’t permit unfair marital frustration.
If you’ve been in a dating relationship for some time, you might consider if this path is leading toward marriage. While relational compatibility and others’ approval are helpful, you must determine if God thinks your relationship is worthwhile.
Every person needs to be aware of the little foxes scampering around his or her marriage. All marriages have specific minor issues that will turn into major issues if the couple refuses to address them.
So many engaged couples are prepared for a wedding but not a marriage. If you are considering marriage, you must prioritize preparing in a way that will keep you married.
Why do some couples make it and others don’t? Undeniably, some marriages end because they never experienced a healthy beginning.
Before you hop into the getaway car at your wedding reception, realize that you will have some unfortunate baggage. We each carry evidence of Eden’s eviction behind us.
For every single person, our sin disrupts our relationship with God and others. Without intervention, there is no hope for us, but in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can find mercy for our transgressions and meaning in our brokenness.
When Adam and Eve first sinned, it changed everything for them and us. God counseled them during the event and led them through the fallout. We can’t hide from the reality of what our sin costs nor can we overlook His grace through it.
You will sin. Your spouse will sin. What will you do when it happens? The first couple paved the way for us to repeat, unfortunately. They immediately hid from God and framed others in the awareness of their guilt.
Your marriage would be much easier if sin weren’t in the picture. Unfortunately for you and your spouse, it is unavoidable. Your marriage can survive if you work together to navigate temptation, sin, and restoration when it all happens.
God’s original command to the first couple was to be fruitful and multiply. It was a call to take what He had given them in order to use it and multiply it to the best of their God-given abilities. God is up to something, and your marriage can be a part of it.
To have a healthy marriage, you must consider numerous components. One area that is rarely discussed from a scriptural perspective is the role sexual intimacy is intended to play. We must reorient ourselves to God’s perspective.
Marriage cannot work if someone has a higher priority than the spouse. There must be a thorough yet healthy leaving of one’s initial family and a complete and eager cleaving of one’s unique spouse. It is essential.
God designed marriage to provide a helper because He knew that, even before sin, we needed someone to walk beside us in life. We aren’t wired to navigate life alone. In our need, He offers us a companion.
God did not invite us to embark upon the journey of marriage unprepared without the instructions required to bring it safely onto the shore. The Bible provides the knowledge we need to succeed in marriage.
You were created by God for a certain purpose. And every person in this world will either encourage you to fulfill that purpose or discourage you from that calling. Out of all your relationships, there is none more serious than your spouse.
If God created marriage, we should assume His perspective would be superior to the wisdom of an expert or any amount of experience. You can avoid specific marital issues by simply learning and applying the truths of God’s Word.
Just (About) Married is a premarital resource to help individuals study, couples discuss, and then a counselor unpacks the concepts to prepare for marriage. I pray it can help your upcoming marriage or counseling ministry.
Next to your decision to follow Jesus, there is no more critical of a decision than if and who you will marry. While you may find yourself lovestruck at some point in your life, it is essential that you have considered God’s role in your potential marriage.
I am so happy to share with you that Just (About) Married, a premarital book for intentional couples, is available today. I’ve had a burden for years to develop a resource that would assist couples in our church to better prepare for marriage, and it is finally complete.