Marriages are very important. So important, in fact, that we Christian husbands should prioritize them more than anything else, second only to our relationship with God.
Why are they that important? In this article we will take a look at a few reasons why our marriages should take precedence over pretty much anything we give our time and attention to, after God.
1) It's a God-ordained relationship of the highest priority
Think about this, guys: if marriage wasn't so important, then why would God give Adam a wife in the first place?
Genesis 2 tells us that God sought a suitable partner for Adam in all creation, but found no one. Thus He made Eve.
Why did God create Eve?
"And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."" (Genesis 2:18)
God created Eve after commanding Adam to tend and keep the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:15). He created Eve after seeing that it isn't good for man to be alone.
This alone gives us two reasons, but for sake of expounding we'll classify them into one: When God gives us marriage, He sees it as an important matter necessary for us to fulfill His will.
Some men and women live as eunuchs. God gives them the grace to remain single for the rest of their lives so they can focus on Him.
But when God blesses a man and a woman with marriage, it's important for the married person to understand that God wills that marriage to be a vessel that will fulfill His will.
In short, that marriage is part and parcel of God's will for any man, and thus husbands must prioritize it, period.
2) Our wives are His daughters
Next, guys, we have to realize and recognize that our wives are God's very daughters, and that He has entrusted His very daughters to us, to care for them. Think about that.
Any good father will want his son-in-law to treat his daughter with utmost respect and honor. He would want his daughter to be taken care of, and the moment her husband does something wrong, he will surely get angry at him.
Well, God is not just any Father. He's a really good and fearful Father, and we must learn to fear Him. The book of Proverbs gives us insight into what kind of fear this is:
First, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). This means that everything we do to our wives must be birthed from wisdom and understanding of God's person and character.
Second, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate" (Proverbs 8:13). This means that if we fear God, we will not do anything evil to our wives. We will be humble and honest towards the person He gave to be our wife.
These, and many other things, God expects from us. We ought to treat His daughters well since we're accountable to Him.
3) Everything else depends on the condition of our marriage
Many of us may not believe it, but how we handle our marriage determines many things in life - including God's responses to us.
For starters, let's see how our prayers fare when we treat our wives wrong:
"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." (1 Peter 3:7)
Let's also see how our marriages determine our ministry life:
"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil." (1 Timothy 3:2-6)
Lastly, let's look at how God considers husbands who don't provide for his family:
"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Timothy 5:8)
