Premarital Wall-Papering

Robert Hines
06/03/12 - Marriage and Family

We live in an age preoccupied with sex. It is used in ads to sell books, cars, vacations and toothpaste. And so it is no wonder young people think that they need to try out marriage by "living together". We are told that the physical relationship is such an important part of marriage that the man and woman involved need to have this experience to see if the marriage will be good.

I have an alternative: let the man and woman wallpaper a room together. Let them slop paste around, spill water, get in each other's way, look at each other's work, and learn of each other's patience, or the lack of it … there's the way to see what it is going to be like!

Young people: don't be fooled by what the devil preaches in books, on television, and from the mouths of his disciples. Marriage is not primarily a physical relationship. It is a life-long commitment by two people who care about each other. Love and sex are not the same things.

Learn about each other. Spend time together. Plan as much for your marriage as you do for your wedding. Papering a room together is not as much of a joke as you think! How two people get along together and whether they have common ideas and goals make for the best of situations.

Jesus called living together "sin", fornication. He placed the highest values on marriage, using it as the figure to describe his relationship with the church (Eph.5). He wants you to have all the joy God gives — including that of the physical relationship in marriage. But, carefully consider that He shows a basis for marriage far beyond that of the world. In fact, it is in Him!