God is the glue
The relationship between parent and child is very special. I always say my children made me more human. They give more value to my life. Without children I would’ve missed out on a lot.
When a man and a woman marry their relationship is valued more than that between parents and children. 31And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” Wow, even more value is put on the relationship between man and wife.
No, I don’t think children should write off their parents. Children still have a major role to play in their parents’ lives. But the focus now is on the spouse and the relationship between two spouses. Parents must recognize that. The children have become old enough to manage their own lives and look after themselves.
There is no place for a third person in a marriage. Many marriages have broken down because of interference by parents. One partner starts feeling as if the parents-in-law are ganging up on him or her with the other spouse and before long he or she walks out.
Listen to what this verse is saying, mom and dad, the children have to leave and go and do their own thing in their own way. Yes, it’s not nice to see them making the same mistakes you did, but it’s there where they are butting heads that they really learn things and grow closer together. Leave them to get on with things.
Because this is where they become one. Two people most probably with very different personalities (because as the saying goes, opposites attract) must now become one. Barnes (e-Sword) describes it really beautifully:
That is, they two, or they that were two, shall be united as one – one in law, in feeling, in interest, in affection. They shall no longer have separate interests, but shall act in all things as if they were one – animated by one soul and one wish.
The becoming one is more than s*x. It’s in everything. Even their interests should start drawing them closer together. Just look at your father and mother or another coupe who’ve been married for a long time. Eventually they start talking about the same things. They start doing things like one another. They start finishing one another’s sentences. They know exactly when to keep quiet. They’ve become like one.
And it doesn’t happen overnight. And even less in calm waters. It’s in the struggle and storming out and saying “I’m done” and the turning around and apologising that we grow closer together. Some don’t see it like that and claim that they are simply too different and cannot, therefore, go on and the unit is destroyed. I find it absurd that the variety and differences that initially attracted them to one another now become the reasons to initiate a divorce…
Maybe it’s because they do not understand the glue that makes two become one. Maybe it’s because they do not make space for Him in their marriage. You see, God is the one who brings about the unity. Marriage is a holy relationship, simply because God is involved in it. God brings the holiness to the issue and He is also the glue binding the two together.
How beautifully God has made marriage. Man and woman become one and God is the One who provides the glue to keep them one. Let’s honour God by being creative in our marriages to ensure that we remain one.
Reflection
What do your relationships look like?
How much Glue is left?
How much space does God have?
Prayer
Our Father, You have such wonderful plans. How stupid of us that we mess it up so much. You made marriage special. You are the glue binding us together. Please help us, Lord, not to mess with the glue all the time. Amen
