A Cord of Three Strandsنموونە
The Blood pact (part 1)
On that first day, I invite you to understand Jesus' great sacrifice when He shed His blood on the Cross of Calvary. Certainly, the power of His blood has changed our lives. He overcame death. He is risen. He gave us access to the Father. He gave us eternity. A marriage that believes in the power of the blood shed by Jesus is a marriage where Jesus himself is part of the alliance and that union becomes stable, because it is a cord not of two, but of three strands, which is not easy to break.
The first teaching is to understand that when God unites man and woman, He transforms them into one body, one flesh. However, what exactly does this mean?
Only the power of God can transform two people into one:
- When two people decide to marry, they submit to God's system that provides for a total unity, called marriage;
- To be united by marriage is to become one;
- The only earthly relationship takes place in the Spirit, Soul, and Body.
In this sense, we understand that Body and Soul concentrate through the senses and the mind, the desires and emotions that we feel. Nevertheless, if we live only that in our marriage, we risk following the standards not of Jesus, but of the world, and many times the heart of man can be deceptive. In I John 2:16 we find that “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
Therefore, the most important thing is to connect the Spirit of God, which will bring inspiration, revelation and communion to the couple. Moreover, here we find the strength we lacked, the third strand of the cord.
Without the Spirit, marriage is just a contract between two people:
- They are married, but God does not live in either spouse;
- So He is only a witness and not an active party;
- Over time, the conditions imposed and expected in the contract may change, tolerance will decrease, dedication will no longer be the same, the Soul and the Body alone cannot bear deep crises.
Example of the first couple in human history: Adam and Eve: Genesis 3:1-12
- Satan, impersonating a snake, plays a word game with Eve, who is deceived, eats the fruit of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", and then gives it to her husband;
- Both sought to satisfy their flesh (Soul and Body), ignoring what God had directed (Spirit);
- When God asked them, they tried to justify themselves for their sin, without acknowledging their guilt: couples today still do it, wanting to justify their behavior instead of repenting, asking for forgiveness and falling at the feet of the Lord;
- They hid from God and were afraid due to disobedience: even today couples do not understand that God must be the center and the base of their marriage;
- They covered themselves with fig leaves to hide from each other, as they lost the transparency and unity that existed between the two: more and more couples protect and hide from each other;
- Sin made them lose their discernment about the true enemy, causing confusion between them, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent: even today, Satan, who makes them think that the enemy is their spouse, deceives couples.
Homework:
- Is your marriage a blood covenant or a contract? Why?