Building a Marriage

I have officiated at a lot of weddings in my ministry. Saturday’s wedding, however, was unique. I officiated at the wedding of my own son, Blake, and his fiancé, Julie Thomas. Here, in part, is what I told them:

Blake and Julie, it has been exciting to see the new house that they are building for you in Southaven. When they began the house, they did not go out, have a ceremony, and the house magically appeared, No, instead, they began working on the house, and they are still working on it. Board by board, brick by brick, they are building the house. That’s the way it will be with your marriage. Our ceremony here today marks just the beginning of your building the marriage that will occupy that house. You will continue to build your marriage across the years.

You need to begin building this marriage with complete commitment. The words of Ruth serve as a great model for your commitment to each other. Ruth said, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be bruied: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.” Commitment is the strong and sturdy material that gives a marriage its strength even when the winds of adversity blow. No marriage survives without it.

You also need to use love as a basic building material. The apostle Paul wrote: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.”

And most important of all, cover the marriage with the presence of God in your lives and in your relationship with each other. Jesus was invited to a wedding in Cana one time, and before He left He had blessed that marriage. He always does. Christ makes everything better, including marriage.

There was a billboard with one of those messages supposedly from God. It said, “Loved the wedding—invite me to the marriage. Signed: God.” That’s what I would urge you to do. Invite Him to the marriage.

Building a house is exciting. Building a marriage is even more exciting and rewarding. Blake and Julie, may God bless you as you embark, with God’s help, on this great building project.

That’s what I told them about marriage. I could have told them more, and I could have told them less. For them, as for all couples, ultimately the marriage will depend on the kind of workmanship that they put into the relationship. Pray for them and for all of us that we will build great marriages.