What is the role of faith in marriage? Let’s look at what Scripture says about it.
The Bible admonishes us to be “equally yoked” (2 Corinthians 6:14). That means your common denominator is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many dating and engaged couples don’t realize how important this is until they get on the other side of marriage and they hit the wall with conflict after conflict after conflict.
You need the Lord Jesus as the glue to give you the faith and the strength to humble yourself and get through to the other side of the conflict. When Jesus Christ is in the middle of your marriage—in the good times and the bad times—you experience a depth and richness that you could not have otherwise.
The importance of spiritual connection is infinite and unimaginable. More, it is vital in a healthy marriage. Yet many Christian couples we talk to wish they had a deeper spiritual life together. They know how important it is, but somehow they just never get around to making it happen. Their intentions are good, but their excuses (“I don’t have time for spiritual things,” “I’m afraid God will expect more than we can do,” “My spouse isn’t interested”) easily override their intentions.
There are so many homes—even Christian homes—where the spiritual connection is dead and the marriage is naturally following. We find so many couples living in a daze, wondering what piece of their marriage puzzle is missing.
Every couple needs soul-to-soul closeness. If you want to enjoy the deepest level of connection in marriage, you need to develop spiritual intimacy in your relationship. There is nothing weird or mystical about spiritual intimacy. It’s simply a marriage of three—an intimate relationship between God, a husband, and a wife. Profound intimacy happens when two hearts, two bodies, two souls connect with the God who created them and designed marriage.
There are going to be times in your marriage when you’re driving down the freeway with one hand on the wheel and the other hand on your forehead, and you’re thinking, I can’t take one more step in my marriage. No one understands what I’m going through. This is so big, I don’t even know how I’ll survive.
When you have faith in the Creator of the universe, then you can survive. In fact, you’ll do more than survive the losses, hurts, financial failures, and the things that life brings. Your marriage will be richer for the trials. That is the role of faith in your marriage. When you bump up against a trial, you’re not alone. You go to God and say, “Help me, God. Help me understand what you want me to do in this situation. Help me know how to help my spouse. Help me learn what you want me to learn through this.”
*For more practical marriage advice, check out The Great Marriage Q&A Book. It's available in our online bookstore!