Stewarding Marriage

The other night while tucking myself into bed I did as I usually do - I snuggled. No, I wasn't able to snuggle with someone, instead I snuggled with something. I snuggled up close to a book. Yeah, I read at night. That night I was feeling particularly lonely. I was particularly in need of some company. You know what I mean. The whole I want to be with her right now and just hold her close. Well, yeah, since that wasn't going to happen I went to bed with a book. Perhaps it wasn't my wisest move but due to that lonely frame of mind I went to bed with a book on marriage. Actually a book on sex. No, actually it was a book on God. Wait, how about all three things combined! Yeah, I went to bed with Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. That night I was reading a chapter written by Ben Patterson and at one point he said,

Marriage and sexuality is a stewardship. I must give my wife back better than I received her. And I must give the world we shared back to God better than we received it. Marriage is yet another arena in which to live out your vocation to serve Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once spoke to a love struck couple in a marriage homily: "In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind." We do nothing in this life unto ourselves alone. Even a happy marriage (or great sex) is not only for the happiness of the husbands, wives, and children; it is for the God's glory.

This shocked me. I was dumbfounded, and that doesn't happen often! It wasn't the concept of marriage or sex being for God's glory. No, it was the concept of it being for His use. Rather, for His service. To be, as Bonhoeffer put it, "at a post." It is a heavy responsibility. Sure, I assume (yes, I take it for granted and I know it's wrong) that we'll serve together and tithe together and go to church together and all the rest of that good stuff. But now I need to understand that we will also be a sort of beacon in our society. Wow! That's a pretty tough call. It's not just about us. It's not even just about us and God. It's also about others. This get's, I won't lie, just a little complicated.