ORDER MY STEPS IN THY WORD

God’s Order for LifeHeirs Together of the Grace of Liferesponsibility is to help and be a companion toShe goes to work at four in the afternoon untilher man. At no place in the Word of God does ittwelve at night; he goes from eight in the mornsaythat a wife is just a childbearing machine.ing until four in the afternoon. And so twoThat is a denominational teaching. That’s all. Topeople live together for twenty years, have two orhave a child in a family is a blessing, but thatthree children, and still are strangers to eachisn’t the primary purpose of marriage. Theother. Isn’t that something? That’s why I adviseprimary purpose is companionship: having our newlyweds to get to know each other firstsomeone to converse with, someone to under-before starting a family. The husband and wifestand, someone to love, someone with whom toneed an opportunity to build their companionpursuegoals.ship. If a child comes in the first year of marriage,it will be a challenge to bring that marriagetogether. I think all of us know many familieswho have children, but lack a companionshipbetween husband and wife. And in that companionshipis found the sweetness of the life thatGod intended.So the first requirement of a marriage is com-panionship. And if you’re going to have com-panionship, you’ve got to be able to talk. Thehusband can’t say something and the wife imme-diately get angry; or the wife can’t say somethingand the husband get upset and storm out of thehouse. You’ve got to be able to communicate,have talking sessions. You have to be able to sitdown and talk things over. If you don’t havetime or if you don’t take time to communicate,you just cannot put a Christian family together.Exactly what do a husband and wife learn sittingI advise young people not to have children fortwo or three years after getting married. Even ifthey’re thirty when they get married, they canstill have babies at thirty-three. One of thereasons I advise newlyweds to wait a period oftime before having children has to do with ourAmerican culture. In Biblical times a newly marriedcouple went on a yearlong honeymoon. Duringthat year they accepted no invitations fromanyone except the immediate family on bothsides. During this honeymoon year the couplecould then learn to live with each other and toknow each other better. They also learned to getalong with the in-laws. Not a bad idea!In contemporary American culture, people getengaged today, married tomorrow, and thefollowing day each one goes to a separate job.4445