Marriage Is Honorable
Brother Neff’s Collections
Originally Published December 11, 2014
Mission Trip Update (India)
March 22, 2025
Yesterday we attended a wedding in another town. It was a little different than what we are used to in the States. The bride was the local pastor’s daughter. The wedding was held under a tent in the Church parking area to accommodate the crowd of about 400. About half of the people sat on the ground and the others in plastic chairs. There was much fanfare and music and singing, then a group of musicians accompanied the groom to the platform. There was more singing and then another group of musicians accompanied the bride to the platform. There were several solos, instructions to the young couple, a 30-minute sermon, exchanging of the vows, signing of the marriage certificate by the young couple and their fathers, instead of kissing the bride the couple put a garland of flowers around each other’s head and then different pastors (including myself) were called to the platform to give advice or well wishes to the newlyweds. Then Ted Mock was called to the platform to say a few words and help the young couple cut the wedding cake. That whole thing took about two hours. Then they fed a nice meal to all those who had attended. It was quite a production.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
When I spoke to the young couple I congratulated them on this their wedding day. I shared with them that it was my privilege to be married to the most wonderful woman in the world, and that we had been married for over 50 years. I encouraged the young man to love his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it. I told him if he would love her that much, she would willingly put herself in subjection to him, and that would bring happiness, contentment, and joy to the home. I challenged the young bride to study Proverbs 31 and apply those lessons to her life, and her value would be far above rubies.
May each of us reflect back on our wedding day and remember the vows we made to God and to our spouse. It should be our lifelong goal to honor God in our marriage and to honor our mate every day.
Consider – God intends for His children to have a loving marriage and to find the joy and happiness that comes by making Christ the Head of the home.
