“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife…”  Mark 10:6-8

Take another look at those three words: For. This. Reason. Those words obliterate current wisdom which claims that Jesus said nothing about gay marriage. Here’s the context: Jesus had just been asked whether a man could divorce his wife if he wished. To answer the question about divorce, Jesus had to define marriage. He reminded them that God made male and female and when those two are joined together in covenant, they create a unique bond meant to last until death. It was “for this reason” that God created two genders (Yes, there are only two), designed to complement each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was for this reason that divorce was never in God’s blueprint, because husband and wife became one.

Notice what is missing in Jesus’ response. He did not imply that whenever any two humans, or three, or nine, participate in a ceremony with an official, they can call it marriage. He was uber specific in defining the parameters because He requires that we understand something: marriage is not about us. Life is not about us. Everything in God’s creation is about God. Marriage is simply another picture of the covenant relationship He wants to have with us. God made us male and female so that when we willingly unite physically and spiritually with the opposite gender a new entity is created—Us. Husband and wife. Unique by design. A marriage. For this reason any other coupling we invent that is outside those parameters is not a marriage, it is sin.

Final Thought:  Who or what defines marriage for you: Culture? Opinion? Preference? Friends? Or Jesus?

Prayer: Father, our world has devalued marriage so much that this seems foreign to me. But you don’t change and your word doesn’t change. Help me continue to align my views with your truth so that I can live the way you designed me to live. Amen.