Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

May 02, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 19

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Well it has been a while since I have shared the well-known marriage principles out of these verses. Let me do just a little refresher course here.

1. THE LEAVING
“For this cause shall a man leave father and mother”. It never says for the woman to leave; it just tells the man to. Often through scripture a principal given to both the husband and the wife is given to the husband. Let me explain why. The Bible teaches when a man and a woman get married, that they become one. So, when God gives the principal to the husband, it’s basically a principal to both. The husband is the head of the home, so God gives him the instruction. This means that the marriage should be the priority over extended family. A wife or husband’s parents should not get in the way of a marriage. A wife should not be constantly running back to mama, nor should the husband. Certainly, does not mean that we do not still respect, love, honor, and help our parents. It simply means that the top priority should always be our mate.

2. THE CLEAVING
This word means to glue, or to adhere. This word Cleave also means to pursue. This principle for marriage means that the husband should constantly pursue the wife. The husband should be the one making the effort to always keep close to each other. The husband should always be mindful of the relationship, and should always romantically, emotionally, and spiritually pursue the wife. The idea of cleaving means that the husband and the wife forsake all others, and avoid anything that would be in the way, so to remain glued to each other. This means to never contact an old flame or love interest through social media. This means no flirting with any member of the opposite sex. This means staying close to your husband or your wife and not letting anything come between the two of you.

3. THE WEAVING
“They twain shall be one flesh”. In marriage, it’s no longer your life and their life, it’s “our life”. The two become one. Your lives weave together so closely that it’s hard to tell one from the other, and impossible to think of one without the other. God sees the husband and wife in the position of one person. When one hurts, the other hurts. Our lives should weave together so closely that nothing can tear us apart.