Marriage Vows

I write this blog, I speak to people about their daily walk and I share mine as well. I put myself out there, but if I am not living up to the standards I set for others, then I am just a clanging symbol and I will not be heard. Just the same as this, I am calling myself out on my failings to live up to the very thing I vowed to God to do. I need to be more worried about honoring God then myself and in honoring God I will honor others. Taking a vow is not just words, it is so much more and when I fail to honor my vows, I have failed to honor God. I am not pointing fingers, because their would be 3 more pointing back at me.

When people get married they take marriage vows, in a Christian ceremony, they take those vows before God. Those vows have a lot of things in them. Do you know the vows that you took before God on your wedding day?

Mine went something like this:
I, Geoff, take you Heidi to be my wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my one true love from this day forward. In the presence of God and our family, I vow to trust you and respect you, loving you faithfully through the good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles that we may face together. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you as long as we both shall live, knowing that apart from The Holy Spirit’s leading none of the above mentioned is possible.

Have you ever really thought about each part:

• Constant Friend, what is a constant friend, it is one that sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 17:17 says "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." And Proverbs 27:9 says "Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice."
• Faithful partner, one that is faithful no matter what may come, putting my spouses needs before my own, I think that Luke 6:31 "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Not putting any person before my spouse. That follows with what it says in Ephesians 5:21-33. And we also see it in Ephesians 4:2-3 "2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." and Ephesians 4:32 "32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
• My one true love, that means there is no other human love that is more important than your spouses. One true love, that I will love how God calls me to love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
• It then says from the day you say that forward, there is no end to that commitment, because that is a commitment that you hold above all others. 
• Then it says in the presence of God and our family, not my family and your family, it becomes our family at the moment of these statements. 

What does the Bible say about a Vow: In Ephesians 5:4-6 "When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?" This verse is twice in the Bible, have you ever noticed that things written twice are to be payed attention to? It is in Deuteronomy 23:21-23 "“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth." Do not delay in paying it. A vow is not taken lightly, it is not just words, it is a covenant to be upheld, no matter what, because in God's eyes it is sacred. How many times do we just think it is words?

• To trust
• respect
• loving you faithfully
• And for all of this no matter what we me face, in the good, bad, hard, easy, I will do this because I want to, I yearn to honor God above myself. That is what it comes down too, when we do not do these things, we are putting our-self first before God. 
• I promise to love unconditionally, that is a huge one, because unconditional love is very difficult, but it is to be strived for each day, because that is what God calls us to.
• To support you in your goals
• To laugh with you and to cry with you
• To cherish you. Cherish means to: protect and care for (someone) lovingly, to encourage, to support, to put the other persons needs before your own. 

These are high calling and not easy to do, but it takes work. Are you following them? Are you honoring God or are you honoring yourself?

And before the Vow that we take, we say I will to several statements, do you remember what your statements were? Mine were:

• Geoff, do you take Heidi, whom you hold by the right and to be your wife; to live happily together according to the will of God?
• Geoff – I do
• Will you love her, comfort her, support her, honor her and be loyal to her in all circumstances of life?
• Geoff- I will

All of these things were said before God, God the maker of the universe, the one that has defined all things, the one that has made all things and if I take what I have said lightly, who am I honoring? What does God call me to? To honor, to respect and to love no matter what. If I am not doing what I have vowed, I am walking in SIN, that is sin against God and sin against my wife, that is wrong and I need to confess my sins and turn from them and walk the way God calls me to walk. That is the higher calling, it is putting to death the old nature and being born to what God wants.