Radical Wisdom: A 7-Day Journey For HusbandsSample

The Marriage Cage  

Marriage is easy when you’re feeling the love. When you aren’t, marriage feels like a cage. But think about this: what if the cage is there to protect you?

If you were alone and it was dark and you were deep in the jungles of Africa with lions, tigers, leopards, jackals . . . all kinds of hungry animals looking for fresh meat . . . you’d give anything for a cage. You’d gladly lock yourself inside.

Maybe that’s why God created the institution of marriage. Maybe it’s there to protect us from the dangers and the temptations we’re drawn to . . . things that might kill us if we were set free.

Why should we value or protect institutions? Because institutions are ways to sustain important activities over time.

Let’s say there’s a good-hearted doctor who takes care of everyone in his community. What happens when the doctor dies?

We created an institution to sustain the healthcare we all need. The good-hearted doctor is still at the heart of it, but now he’s connected to an institution, the hospital, which is a system that will carry on.

Marriage is sort of like that. It’s a system that carries two people through when they don’t feel love for each other. Consider this . . . 

Love initiates marriage. But marriage sustains love.

Remember that God created marriage, and He put you in yours for your benefit. Probably for your protection, as well. Marriage will only be sustained if people think long-term, stay committed even when they don’t feel like it, and trust God for the love and protection He provides through marriage.

Question: Are you actively working to protect your marriage?