A False Relationship

19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body gand in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6: 19 - 20 NKJV

One of my deepest desires for some time was that I would on day be a husband and a father.  This isn't anything new, people have been aspiring to marriage for generations.  Ever since our heavenly Father created a helper suitable for Adam, Gods children have yearned for that marriage relationship {Genesis 22:24}.  Jesus Himself commented on the sanctity of that marriage relationship as well {Matthew 19:6}.  However, I believe that one aspect of the marriage covenant which has been lost over time is just how I described it, as a relationship.  A relationship between two of Gods children based on love.  The same love which God has bestowed upon His children.  It is no secret that when we exhibit love, we are simply exhibiting He who dwells within us {Galations 2:20}.  Indeed, the only way that the world today will see Christ is through the lives of those in whom He lives.  Yes, I believe that it is the relationship aspect which we have lost over time.  Far too often it is the needs of one spouse that will take center stage over the needs of the other.  I should know, for this is what happened to the relationship between my own parents.  My own father chose his own needs over those of his wife and family.  Eventually, he turned to a false relationship of adultry to satisfy what he percieved he was lacking in his own life.  In my opinion, what he was lacking for all of those years was not the physical affection he so desperately sought, but Christ Jesus.  For in Christ he would have found what he searched so long to find.  I did.  It is in Jesus which we will always find the Love, acceptance and sense of belonging which we all desire.  Yes, we can indeed find our own soul mate, but our relationship with our own spouse will ultimately be incomplete if our own relationship with Jesus is lacking.  This is how it was from the begining.  God saw there was no helper comparable to Adam so He created one for him.  Out of Adam God created Eve.  The very word we use today to describe a female should be a good indication.  Woman..."from man."

21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He hmade into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of jMan.” 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and bek joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2: 21 - 25 NKJV

Growing up I promised myself over and over that I would never be the man that my own father was.  I would never be that one to forsake my own marriage  relationship for the false relationship of another.  In many ways I have succeeded in evading that path which my father chose for himself, but there are those areas where, sadly, I have followed directly into his footsteps.  Like father like son, right?  While I have never been married, I have still dabbled in those false relationships which my own father once found himself.  For him it was adultry, for his son it was pornography and strip clubs.  It was here where I falsely convinced myself that I would find a relationship that would satisfy me.  Of course, without Christ in the picture, I would NEVER be satisfied no matter what it is I did.  Each time I would visit a strip club I would do so with the intent of seeking that relationship which I desired.  Not surprisingly, it never happened.  My point is this, while it is totally pleasing to God that I would seek a relationship, it goes against all that He is for me to seek that relationship out of the desires of my own flesh.  In other words, if I am seeking a relationship simply based on the satisfaction of my own desires, then I am doing nothing more than my own father before me did.  How is it that a one sided relationship, void of Christ, can survive?  I don't profess to know that answer, nor do I want to find out.  For myself, my desire is to find that which my father never did, a healthy, Christ centered marriage relationship.
I asked a good friend sometime ago upon his 50th marriage aniversery how it was that his own relationship has lasted so long.  His answer was simple and to the point.  Back then divorce was never a option.  I guess I'm not that much like my dad after all.

9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4: 9 - 11 NKJV

~Scott~