Marriage is a Covenant

A covenant is an agreement between two or more people. There are different types of covenants – blood, peace covenants. A blood covenant is the highest form of agreement to God and man.

Marriage falls under the category of a blood covenant, that is why a girl must marry as a virgin because on the first day of sexual intercourse, a covenant is cut with the shedding of blood when the hymen is broken. Interestingly, marriage is a covenant between three – man, woman and God.

Marriage nowadays, is a caricature of what God designed. The rate of separation and divorce, even in church, is at an all time high. People get divorced for mundane reasons e.g. cooking, snoring, physical appearance etc.

This is because human beings are always innovating, designing and changing systems in pursuit of utopia. In Matthew 19.3-10, when Jesus was questioned about divorce, He explained that divorce was never God’s original plan, Moses permitted the people to divorce, he gave this adjustment to suit the hardness of their hearts. Marriage is a covenant that MUST NOT be broken. We should not bend God’s rules to suit ourselves. Sexual intercourse should be exclusive to marriage only.

Apart from physical activity, sex is an interaction of spirits, therefore every human being is designed to have sex with one person for a life time. To do otherwise is to break the covenant and breaking covenants brings on curses. Marriage amplifies our fears and insecurities.

The challenge for us is to develop character to keep our marital vows in the face of adversity. The first thing to do is acceptance, we must accept and love ourselves unconditionally and be willing to give and forgive. Let’s always remember to ask God for help when we are weak. God’s word stands forever, He will not vary His standards to suit our whims and caprices. It’s important to take the time to search the scriptures and understand our responsibilities towards God regarding marriage.

A final word for the singles – begin to test your capacity for integrity before considering marriage. Do not overlook critical warning signals before getting married. A little adjustment in our thinking will make a world of difference for “as a man thinketh...” Pastor Sam Adeyemi