Cleave or Leave!

Genesis 2:24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.  

We live in a day in which marriage is under severe attack. The daily pressures of demanding jobs, our overloaded schedules, misguided cultural norms, and the baggage that all of us carry into marriage, require us to maintenance our marriages on a regular basis. A nice vacation once a year does not make up for the neglect of the previous fifty-one weeks.

The second chapter of Genesis indicates to us that woman was a special gift from God to man and man was to treasure her. That doesn't give man the right to do whatever he pleases, it places a responsibility upon man to honor and respect his wife as a gift from God. The New Testament calls man to love his wife even as Christ loved the Church and laid down His life for it. Man is called to love his wife in the same manner.

The closest and the most tresured relationship a man has prior to being married is found in his relationship with his parents. Marriage requires us to leave that relationship and cleave to our wives. In other words, the life that man once gained from that relationship with his parents is now to be found in his relationship with his wife, as he cleaves to here. The word cleave here means to "stick like glue". God wants men to stick like glue to their wives.

There is such an exchange of life that takes place between a husband and wife, that they become as one person. The math of marriage looks like this, 1+1=1. In marriage, the lives of two distinct creatures is blended together into one new person. God must be invited into marriages on a regular basis. The breakup of marriages in our society is only an indicator that society as a whole is crumbling before our eyes, and we're too busy to even notice it.

Take time today to express your love and admiration for your spouse. You are gifts to one another from the Lord Himself.