Fierce Marriage By Ryan And Selena FrederickSample

A Higher Calling

As people who follow Jesus, you’re adopted into the grace and love—the family—of God. You are his dearly loved and cherished children. Knowing and being known by God bear real fruit in your lives in the forms of love, joy, peace, and so much more (Galatians 5:22–23). These benefits are your birthright as adopted children of God. But God doesn’t stop there. 

Just as you’re adopted into the family of God, you’re commissioned to participate in his divine handiwork. You are Christ’s hands and feet in your community and, by extension of the global body of believers, the world.

With this grander perspective we see the full magnitude of marriage finally taking form. You are called to a high calling of loving God and loving people, and your marriage is an avenue to sanctify you personally and to strengthen the action of the church globally. 

How much more profound can the meaning of marriage be? Embracing the high calling of your marriage will anchor you in the never-ending and utterly meaningful purposes of God. Suddenly every struggle, every victory, and every mundane moment takes on new, profound meaning. Ministering through your marriage is an inevitable outcome of a loving covenant anchored in Christ. 

Marriage is astoundingly allegorical. Everything about it points to the loving courtship between God and his people through the person and work of Jesus. We’ve come from perfection in the garden and we’ll be made perfect again when united with Christ as his Bride. Until then, the sanctifying hand of God is hard at work preparing us for eternity, and covenant marriage is perhaps the tool he wields most. 

Can you see it? Marriage is so much bigger than you! Thank God for that. Its purpose is far grander than just your love for each other. The covenant love your marriage embodies is a neon sign pointing us to the covenant promises of our powerful, loving, eternal God. Marriage is and always has been all about Jesus. A fierce marriage is all about God’s endless love for you, his careful molding of your heart, and his unquenchable passion to reach the lost. 

In what areas do you see God using your marriage to advance his kingdom?