Couples fail at marriage when they don’t confront their nakedness. If you and your spouse will commit to tackle your nakedness, you will never divorce, intimacy will increase and your children will benefit.
Genesis begins with the story of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, the Bible says, Then the eyes of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked (Genesis 3:7 NKJV). At that moment three terrible things happened that would forever affect the relationship between a man and a woman in marriage:
- shame (Genesis 2:25)
- separation (Genesis 3:10)
- fear (Genesis 3:10)
Christ came to redeem you from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13) When you receive Christ, you no longer have to live under the curse, but instead, you can live as a new creation in Him.
- The Naked Truth: a godly marriage is shame-free.
Shame creates self-centeredness and distance in marriage. Three things the successful marriage understands about shame:
- Comprehend that you live under the curse of the law when you rely on your old nature, your old habits; but your new nature in Christ can be shame-free.
- Comprehend that your spouse lives under that same curse (seek to understand—not to be understood).
- Understand that shame comes from Satan—not from God.
- The Naked Truth: a godly marriage is separation-free.
The basis for separation in marriage originates from the curse—the consequences of man’s disobedience. He (God) told the woman: I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth; you’ll give birth to your babies in pain. You’ll want to please your husband, but he’ll lord it over you.(Genesis 3:16 MSG) He (God) told the man: because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree…. The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you’ll be working in pain all your life long. (Genesis 3:17-18 MSG) Because you have been redeemed from the curse, you can live without division and separation in your relationship with your spouse. Your relationship is restored and the two of you can live as one flesh, just as Adam and Eve did before the fall.
- The Naked Truth: a godly marriage is fear-free.
As a follower of Christ, you have been given the mind of Christ. 1 Timothy 1:7 says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV) The successful marriage works through times of fear. You can trust God and trust one another in your relationship.
