Have you ever wondered why some of the most beautiful couples in Hollywood end up getting divorced? These people have no shortage when it comes to looks, but it seems that they just can’t make their marriages work. Apparently, their attractiveness is not enough to keep them “happily ever after.”
This isn’t true of only Hollywood A-listers; it is true for every couple in the world. Sure, physical attraction can be the thing that draws a couple together, but just like two magnets, they can be separated with enough force. Let me be clear: physical attraction is wonderful and good in marriage, but it is not supreme. It cannot and will not carry you through life’s toughest storms. Marriages that last are built upon a much more solid foundation—love. I am not talking about infatuation or romance. I am referring to an unconditional love which flows from our personal relationships with the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Do you remember the story of Rebekah and Isaac in Genesis chapter 23? Abraham told his servant to find Issac a wife who was from the land of his ancestors. As Abraham’s servant was praying for success in carrying out his master’s instructions, he met Rebekah there at the well. To summarize the story, Rebekah agrees to go with Abraham’s servant and to marry Isaac, someone she had never met. Rebekah had no idea what Issac looked like or what his personality was like. She decided in her heart that she would love him no matter what she found when she got there. She believed in faith that this was God’s will for her life. The Bible spends only one verse talking about Rebekah’s physical beauty, but it says that she was very beautiful. The Word of God spends the rest of the time explaining how beautiful she was inwardly.
I am sure that Isaac was overjoyed when he saw Rebekah for the first time. But Rebekah’s beauty alone did not keep their marriage alive, especially during the twenty years that Rebekah was barren. No, something much stronger kept them together. It was the covenant they made with one another before God. It was their hope in the promises of God and trust in His faithfulness to keep them.
I praise God that physical beauty is not what fuels Christ’s love for the Church. He loves us with an unconditional, sacrificial love. At this point, we are not the spotless bride of Christ without blemish, but one day we will be (Ephesians 5:22-33). We know that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39). May our marriages testify to this glorious truth and mystery every single day (Ephesians 5:23). So, let us not be as magnets whose strength can weaken and poles shift. Instead, let us be as threefold cords who are not easily broken, who are held together by God (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
The Real Zeal 