Becoming one flesh with your spouse is something we hear all the time. But what does it really mean?? Lately I've been hearing sermon after sermon about what it means to become one flesh with your spouse and I feel I am getting a better understanding of it more than I ever have before. Here are some key points I think are helpful in understanding what it means.
"As far as emotional attachments are concerned, the new unit takes precedence over all previous and future relationships (Genesis 2:24). Some marriage partners continue to place greater weight upon ties with parents than with the new partner. This is a recipe for disaster in the marriage and is a perversion of God’s original intention of “leaving and cleaving.” A similar problem can develop when a spouse begins to draw closer to a child to meet emotional needs rather than to his or her partner.
Emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, financially, and in every other way, the couple is to become one. Even as one part of the body cares for the other body parts (the stomach digests food for the body, the brain directs the body for the good of the whole, the hands work for the sake of the body, etc.), so each partner in the marriage is to care for the other. Each partner is no longer to see money earned as “my” money; but rather as “our” money. Ephesians 5:22-33 and Proverbs 31:10-31 give the application of this “oneness” to the role of the husband and to the wife, respectively.
This oneness and desire to benefit each other is not automatic, especially after mankind’s fall into sin. The man, in Genesis 2:24 (KJV), is told to “cleave” to his wife. This word has two ideas behind it. One is to be “glued” to his wife, a picture of how tight the marriage bond is to be. The other aspect is to “pursue hard after” the wife. This “pursuing hard after” is to go beyond the courtship leading to marriage, and is to continue throughout the marriage. The fleshly tendency is to “do what feels good to me” rather than to consider what will benefit the spouse. And this self-centeredness is the rut that marriages commonly fall into once the “honeymoon is over.” Instead of each spouse dwelling upon how his or her own needs are not being met, he or she is to remain focused on meeting the needs of the spouse."
If my family was drowning and I could only save either my kids or my husband, biblically I am suppose to save my husband because we are one flesh. When I heard that analogy it really made me understand how important a one flesh marriage is. We are not to separate. We are bound together. He is a part of me. We are not one flesh with our kids or our parents, only with our husbands.
This has really challenged me to be a better wife to my husband. To be more respectful towards him, to love him more. All this is for the glory of the Lord.
I love you Gabriel.
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