Watching Derek wait as Gloria walks down the aisle, it's simply beautiful and moving.
Marriage is more than just walking down the aisle, the wedding day, having kids, enjoying sexual intimacy and living together. It is a celebration of love, involving submission of the wife to the husband (on the basis that the husband makes godly decisions) and the husband loving his wife as how Christ loves the church. Christ has the ultimate headship and full submission should be to Christ alone, in recognition that we make mistakes and are sinful by nature. It is a covenant made to the spouse. God has clear instructions for both the husband and the wife, each according to how they are created as male and female. And we are to fully commit to and follow these instructions.
It isn't an easy path leading up to marriage for many. Many couples have to tackle challenging issues they have never faced before prior to courtship. There could be disagreements, disappointments, unhappiness, and possibly lots of hurt. Some couples decide to break up, but there are many who get married at the end of courtship. By no means am I saying that every single courtship will see a marriage at the end of it, but it is marriage that the couple in courtship should be looking forward to and working towards. To reach that goal of marriage isn't an easy task, it is about bringing two sinners together and becoming one flesh.
I am glad that I am able to witness two good friends of mine making the promise to love each other till the day Christ comes again or when God calls them home. May they be able to live out a Christ-centred marriage and be a good testimony of God and an example to the couples in courtship around them.
