For thought and meditation

[rl69]

L

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.—Genesis 2:24 (http://harvest.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4f108f827aed8d503b5fca9fa&id=2e575c66cf&e=3dd732485b)The objective God has in bringing a man and a woman together can be captured in two very important words: leave and cleave. These come from Genesis 2:24 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/x-apple-data-detectors://2) (KJV), which says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The word "cleave" means to glue or to cling. So to leave and cleave is to sever and bond, to loosen and secure, or to depart from and attach to.

A successful marriage begins with leaving. In effect, you leave all other relationships. The closest relationship outside of marriage is specified in Genesis 2:24 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/x-apple-data-detectors://3), implying that if it is necessary to leave your father and mother, then certainly all lesser ties must be broken, changed, or left behind.

This doesn't mean that when you get married, you are no longer a son or a daughter or a sibling. But what it does mean is that you have a new, primary responsibility, and that is to your spouse. You must still honor your mother and father, but leaving has taken place.

Leaving implies giving other relationships a lesser degree of importance. You still can have friends, but your best friend should be your spouse. Having members of the opposite sex as friends can be problematic at best and potentially destructive at worst. Most adultery happens through close contact and relationship, not mere sexual attraction. So be very careful. Your best friend should be your husband or your wife.

In Malachi 2:14 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/x-apple-data-detectors://4), God said of the relationship between a husband and his wife, "Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant." The word "companion" used here means someone united with another in thoughts, goals, plans, and efforts.

Are you united with your spouse in this way

[USMC87]

Very good read and substance!

[square butte]

Some folks never get this - Married or not. Good study and thanks rl for a good start to my morning.

[Blackwater]

Great post, RL. Would that more would heed it. Don't know what the divorce rate is today, but it's been hovering around 50% for years. And all because so many can't or won't or don't take the greatest advice possible that we've been so freely and lovingly given. And many marriages that don't break up, languish in unhappiness because those simple principles and truths aren't heeded, and the will gets precedence over what most know is right. Nothing but the will can do that. "I want it" can be our greatest weakness, and source of SO much trouble in marriage, and all sorts of other things in this world. And Satan is VERY free in tempting us all. There's no sin in being tempted. Even Christ was tempted by Satan in the wilderness after He was baptized by John. It's whether we give IN, that is the REAL question. And it's not easy to NOT give in when sorely tempted, but it's always the right thing to do.

I once found myself alone in a motel room with a very attractive woman and we'd all had a long, tough day. She looked at me and asked me very bluntly if I wanted to have sex. Now I'm as "human" as the next guy, and knew there'd be no interruption for a good while, and she was very serious in her offer. She wan't married, but lived with a guy, but I WAS married. Despite the easy situation, I just smiled and turned her down as gently as I could, and left and went to my room. I think I took a nice, long cold shower, and went to bed and caught a few winks which was sorely needed. She was rather curt with me after that, but .... that just made it easier for me to be so very glad I hadn't strayed.

If a man doesn't have his OWN standards of behavior, and won't stick to them, then he's in REAL need of some very deep reconsiderations. Today, it's SO easy to become tempted in so many ways. Evil and temptation is all around us, and we can't not brush into it at times. ONLY a real, solid center core within us CAN deal with it now. But I suspect it's always been more or less that way.

And thankfully, we've been given all the best advice we could ever wish for in the Bible, by the most loving and benevolent God that could possibly exist! All WE need to do is USE that advice, and we come to satisfaction, beneficence and humble submission. And one can only be SO very thankful when he comes to that ... IF he'll just do so. I've never regretted following the adive Christ gave us. I HAVE, thoguh, regretted when I have followed MY will instead of His. Folks, this just ain't that hard to decipher!

[Boaz]

This is a great lesson ! One that it seems even a lot of Christians don't or refuse to understand . Your wife is not just a sex partner she is part of you in all things . Thank you rl69 !