Many don’t even know it, even fewer will acknowledge it. But it is true. Not only is Christian life in itself warfare, but as you give your vows on your wedding day, you are immediately propelled right up to the front line in this war.
Both John Eldredge, Rob Bell and many other Christian writers with them claim that marriage is a living metaphor, the living image of the kingdom of God. An incarnation if you will of God’s unity and fellowship born into our society.
No Wonder the enemy will throw everything he has got at you once you enter into the sacred union of marriage. At first though he will try to sneak in unnoticed, making you think that it is you, your thoughts, your ideas and as long as you accept the lie that you are evil, wicked, bad and that there is nothing you can do about it, he will leave you in your ignorance.
If you ever blow his cover, he will switch to tactic number two “Dog pile”1 It goes from a low key cold war, to a full on, no holds barred attack. No more pretence, no more disguising as your own thoughts.
The good news is that once we acknowledge that there is an enemy opposing you, that there is a battle to fight, then we can finally let our hearts come fully alive, no longer acknowledging the lies of the devil.
Marriage IS war, not man against the woman; But it is the battle of what should be: glorious, vibrant couples against the powers and principalities that rule this world.
It is time to wake up, step up, and gear up, we are at war!
- John Eldredge, Wild at heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul. (Nashville: Thomas nelson, 2001) [↩]
