Marital Relationship And Eternity

[arunangelo]

God created us in His own Divine image (Genesis 1:27), put His Spirit in us and calls us to share His life (John 15:4); so that we may have His peace (John 14:27) and joy (John 15:11). God thus desires to live in a love relationship with us for all eternity (John 14:3). In order to have this love relationship with God we must also have a similar relationship with people around us; because how we express love to our fellow human beings is a direct expression of our relationship with God (Matthew25:35-40). Furthermore, how we love others is best expressed in marriage because in marriage we are called to deny our own life in order to form a new life with our spouse (Ephesians 5:31); love our spouse as Christ loves His Church; sacrifice our own interest in the process of serving our spouse (Ephesians 5:21-31); and help our spouse to find healing when there is hurt, betrayal and infidelity. The Lord told Hosea to love his wife again through she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. He further told him to love her as the Lord love Israelites, though they turn to other gods (Hosea 3:1). Marital love therefore mirrors Christ’s love; which He expressed by sacrificing His own interest, accepting suffering and death, in order to heal us of sins (which we committed against Him by our betrayal and infidelity) and form an eternal love relationship with us. Marital relationship, therefore, is a precursor of our eternal relationship with God.