I want to support Jack’s post about marriage as a means to God’s glory.
You can be sure most of the world will reject his message. There is this totally bogus mythology about how godly men can sacrifice their divine heritage in order to redeem a woman who needs him. Her need is not even on the radar here; it’s all about God’s glory. That’s the reason we live, the reason for everything we do. It’s the breath of our souls. God’s glory demands that His children not just obey, but that they go on to harvest the full blessings of shalom. This is His glory.
It’s not a question of whether a man can afford to sacrifice something to redeem a woman through marriage. It’s a question of whether the man can redeem his own life back from Satan. This whole debate ignores the issue of penitence — of the man and, more to the point, of the women in our society who have lived in service to the demon god of secular feminism. Everyone dances around that issue. Feminism is from the Devil. Men cannot reap the full harvest of shalom shackled to her demons; they cannot fulfill the divine command to shine the glory of God.
So a woman with short cropped blue hair, a massive college debt and a very casual attitude about spreading her sexuality too thin is not a godly woman. If she repents and embraces the biblical standard of long hair in her natural color, working to pay off her debts and repenting of her fornications, it doesn’t matter how strong her actual performance is. With genuine penitence under the Covenant of Christ (AKA Biblical Law), she becomes eligible for some consideration, but not before. And she had damned sure better know that she is damaged goods and has to work awfully hard to overcome that huge deficit.
And the same goes for men who have wasted their lives in pursuit of hedonistic thrills. Godly women should avoid men who haven’t invested the time and effort restore an image of God’s glory in their lives. It’s not his success at these things, but the glory of God comes from striving with a burning desire that anyone can see.
God’s glory is not optional; it is commanded. We must do whatever it takes to harvest His glory and bring into our human existence. We are obliged to seize back the blessings of God — our shalom — from the enemy of our souls.
