Day 1

So this is more difficult than I thought it would be and it is only day one.  How hilarious.  Ever since I decided to start this journey I have been thinking about the first quality that I would love for my husband to have.  I kept beating around the bush and saying, “Oh silly, the quality will pop right out of your head,” but at the same time, I was trying to avoid saying that the first thing that I would like for my husband to be is a Christian.  Well, after trying to avoid it.  Here it is.  My husband needs to be a Christian, and preferably Baptist too!

Now I understand right there, I have just disqualified a lot of people but as I continue to strive to be the best that I can be in Christ, I realize that I cannot marry a man whose religious convictions are different than mine.  Being apart of the church has been a big part of my life and has really helped to shape me into the person that I am today, sans the bad parts.  But I do realize that I would be nowhere without the blood of Jesus.  And that is real.

If my husband is a true Christian he understands that divorce is not okay, he understands the idea of a helpmate, he understands the idea of being a submissive wife does not mean I go get him a beer from the kitchen when the game is on. 

For me, having a husband who is a true Christian means that he encompasses or is continually trying to attain most of the aspects of a man that I am completely in love with already, Jesus Christ.

So honestly, day 1 does equal my #1, my husband must be a Christian.

Disclaimer: No, this whole blog is not going to be all “churchy” because real Christians aren’t “churchy,” in my humble opinion. 

A few verses come to my mind when I think about marriage, Christ and why it is so important to be one under God.

·        2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

·          1 Corinthians 7 ¹Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.^[a]2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.³ The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. ⁵Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ I say this as a concession, not as a command. ⁷ I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. ⁸ So I say to those who aren't married and to widows—it's better to stay unmarried, just as I am. ⁹ But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust. ¹⁰But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord.^[b]A wife must not leave her husband. ¹¹But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife. ¹² Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man^[c] has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. ¹³ And if a Christian woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. ¹⁴ For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. ¹⁵(But if the husband or wife who isn't a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you to live in peace.) ¹⁶Don't you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don't you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you?¹⁷Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.

·        Gen. 2:18, 21-24 The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.   Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

·        1 Peter 3:1-5, 7 In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, even those who refuse to accept the Good News. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over by watching your pure, godly behavior.  Don't be concerned about the outward beauty ... You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God ... In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. If you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard.

·        Eph. 5:23-32 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything. And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church. And we are his body. As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

·        Matthew 19:4-9  "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'  and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."