Marriage Booster

A matter of ownership.

Marriage is a three-way union — the third party being the Holy Spirit (Mal 2.15).  Indwelling by the Spirit is God’s way of staking claim to something.  It’s His way of saying, “This is Mine.  It belongs to Me.”  (1Cor 6.19.)  And not just generically —  for generically everything belongs to God (Dt 10.14) — but specially and personally and redemptively (1Cor 6.19-20.)  Paul tells the Corinthians that the Spirit indwells them individually as bodies and together as a Body, and thus they each are God’s temple and together they are God’s temple (1Cor 6.19; 3.16).  The whole is not only greater than the sum of the parts, the whole is different than the sum of the parts — different in the sense of being its own reality created, redeemed, inhabited, and loved by God.  So when God gives His Spirit to indwell the marriage of two believers, God is saying that the union itself is created, redeemed, inhabited, and loved by Him.  Paul gives us the upshot of this theology from two angles.  First, whatever the Spirit indwells belongs to God, not us (1Cor 6.19).  Second, if anyone tramples God’s dwelling place, God will trample him (1Cor 3.17).

Here’s what this means to you.  Life is fundamentally a matter of ownership.  You will never get anywhere in the Christian life until you get and embrace the fact that you don’t belong to you.  And you will never get anywhere in your marriage until you get and embrace the fact that your marriage doesn’t belong to you.  Your marriage may not be precious to you, but it is precious to God.  So act accordingly.