Valentines Devotional

Illustration

There is a quote from Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables:

My coat and I live comfortably together. It has assumed all my wrinkles, does not hurt me anywhere, has molded itself on my deformities, and is complacent to all my movements, and I only feel its presence because it keeps me warm. Old coats are old friends.

We can liken the old coat to marriage right

in fact that is what it pertaining to when he wrote about it in his book

And marriage

when we first put it on

theres some getting used to

there are some uncomfortable times

There are some times when

it doesn’t matter which way you turn

it just doesn’t move the same way

there are times the coat may be a little tight

and there are times when it seems you could move around in that coat

and it just doesn’t care

but as time goes on

that coat, it begins to loosen up

it begins to move with you

you begin to long to be in that coat as much as you can

and you dread the times that you cant wear it

see over time

that coat becomes part of us

covering everyone of our flaws

keeping us warm in the winter

and keeping the sun off us in summer

it protects us from the elements

it protects us from the things trying to harm us

it completes us

and compliments us

and we can find peace knowing

that we will grow old with that coat

gives us an example of that in the first marriage

Genesis 2:23–24 “And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.”

From the very beginning

God created us to be relational

we see that just a few verses before this..

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.””

At this point God saw that Adam being alone is NOT good, in sharp contrast to everything else being Good

He needed a helper,

He has God as a helper,

but God is above him.

He has the animals,

but they are below him.

He needed an equal, someone to compliment him

So God put Adam to sleep… Side note, this is great for modern medicine and essentially where medicine got the idea for anesthesia.

God made Eve from Adams flesh,

his ribs,

not from his head or his feet but from his rib.

To show they are equal

yet complimentary.

This highlights our sense of oneness with our spouse

then he says in V23, as we read earlier

This one, at last,

is bone of my bone

Essentially he is saying in weakness and in strength

Bones are the strength and as we well know, our flesh is weak

The following verses also highlight that this relationship is

and should be our most coveted relationship on earth.

We are to love our wives as Christ loves the church.

because Christ died for the church, for us

just as I know each man would do here for his wife

and ladies, you are to love and respect your husband

God did not create multiple eves

but one.

Just as there is only 1 Christ.

One highlight that I enjoy is that each thing God created got better,

and the last thing he “created” was a woman.

Now that should show that she quite possibly could be his best work.

It also shows her value to us men.

So as we continue our Valentines day

I pray that we understand how important marriage and Love is

Because it is a covenant similar to the one that God made with us

and it is but a glimpse of the Love and sacrifice that Christ

made for us

Thank you