[Gen 2:18 – 25]
.
Talking about the purpose of marriage, marriage should:
Bring lasting joy to us


.
COMPANIONSHIP
.
Throughout God’s creation, scriptures record that God saw His work as good [Gen 1: 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31], but for the first time, scripture records God seeing something not good. [Gen 2: 18].
.
Just as God understood Adam and his need for a help meet even beyond how Adam understands, God knows exactly how you feel and has got plans for you. Why didn’t God create Adam and Eve simultaneously? Before God created Eve he put Adam through the exercise of naming the animals [2:19-20]. God had a lesson to teach Adam. By naming all the animals, Adam discovered that for every animal there were both male and female. It’s safe to infer that Adam got to the end of the list and wondered, “Where’s mine?” [Gen 2: 20]
.
Some ‘super-natural’ people sometimes say that if you’re lonely, then something is wrong with your spiritual life; here was a sinless man in perfect fellowship with God in a perfect environment, yet God’s evaluation was that he needed a human companion that will correspond to him. God acknowledges our need not only for fellowship with him but for a life partner. God first made Adam feel the need for a wife. A dog may be man’s best friend, but it could not satisfy Adam’s need for companionship. Only a woman could. God sometimes makes us endure loneliness so that when the need is met, we appreciate it more.
.
Companionship requires that marriage be a primary relationship.God did not create a father and mother for Adam, nor a child, but a wife. A man must leave father and mother in order to cleave to his wife to establish a one flesh relationship. This doesn’t mean abandoning parents or cutting off contact with them. But it does mean that a person needs enough emotional maturity to break away from dependence upon his parents to enter marriage. And parents need to raise their children with a view to releasing them. The husband shouldn’t build his life around his job while the wife builds her life around the children. The best way to be a good parent to your children is to be a good husband to their mother or a good wife to their father. Marriage must be primary.
.
Companionship requires that marriage be a permanent relationship. Your children are with you in the home a few years; your partner is with you for life. [Matt 19:6]. Romantic love is important, but the foundation of marriage is a commitment of the will. Commitment is what holds a couple together through the difficulties that invariably come.
.
Companionship requires that marriage be an exclusive relationship. Polygamy isn't God's original plan. God easily could have created many wives for Adam, but He did not. So when you get married, you give up close friendships with women other than your wife. You also give up your freedom to go out with the guys whenever you choose. You have a new relationship with your wife; she is now your first priority in terms of human relationships. If you can’t handle that, you aren’t mature enough for the demands of marriage. .
Although not everyone needs a partner [1 cor 7: 7 – 9]