Saturday, March 22 She is free to be married to whom she wants, only in the Lord.—1 Cor. 7:39. Jehovah cares about your choice of marriage mate. With regard to inhabitants of Canaan, the Israelites were commanded: “You must form no marriage alliance with them. Your daughter you must not give to his son, and his daughter you must not take for your son. For he will turn your son from following me, and they will certainly serve other gods; and Jehovah’s anger will indeed blaze against you, and he will certainly annihilate you in a hurry.” (Deut. 7:3, 4) Centuries later, Ezra the priest declared: “You yourselves have acted unfaithfully in that you gave a dwelling to foreign wives so as to add to the guiltiness of Israel.” (Ezra 10:10) If a dedicated servant of Jehovah married an unbeliever, this would be an act of disobedience to God. And it would be illogical to expect blessings while admitting in prayer, ‘Jehovah, I deliberately disobeyed you, but please bless me anyway.’ w12 5/15 1:6, 7 ------ The maker of a machine knows exactly how it works. If the device needs to be assembled, he can provide the necessary details about it. What if we ignore the instructions and assemble the pieces in our own way? The results are likely to be disastrous—if the machine works at all. Well, if we are to fulfill a desire for happy wedlock, we must follow the instructions provided by Jehovah, the Maker of marriage. ... Because of the sin and imperfection passed on to the human race by sinful Adam, no present-day marriage is perfect. Among Jehovah’s servants, however, wedlock can result in true happiness if God’s Word is followed. ... Wedlock should be filled with joy, not unhappiness and drudgery. Especially should a Christian home be a place of rest and peace. Consider what happened some 3,000 years ago when the aged widow Naomi and her widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, were on the road from Moab to Judah. Naomi urged the younger women to return to their people. The Moabitess Ruth stuck with Naomi, was faithful to the true God, and was assured ‘a perfect wage from Jehovah, under whose wings she sought refuge.’ (Ruth 1:9; 2:12) With great appreciation for God’s gift of marriage, Ruth became the wife of elderly Boaz, a true worshipper of Jehovah. When resurrected on earth in God’s new world, she will be delighted to learn that she became an ancestress of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 1:1, 5, 6; Luke 3:23, 32) What blessings she received for doing things Jehovah’s way! All info/excerpts are from jw.org Copyright © 2014 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 11:53:46 +0000
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