Is Marriage Enough? Marriage can give us a normal and happy life - useful to God and man. But things can go very wrong in marriage. So many married people live in misery without love and happiness. Unfaithfulness of one or both partners occurs often. The high divorce rate in our country clearly says: marriage does not by itself solve our sexual problems. The reason for this lies (as we have seen in Chapters 6 and 7) in the fact that we have rejected God's love for us. Without God's love, our love cannot last long. Read Romans 1:21-32. What happens to the sex life of those who turn their backs on God? (Verse 24.) Whoever rejects God's love becomes worse than an animal. Adam rejected God's love and destroyed the image of God in man. Jesus accepted God's love and he renewed the image of God. He, the true man, restores us to the image of God (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus lived a life of perfect love, while all of us fail in love to God and to our fellowmen. Jesus restores the relationship between us and God. He can also restore the relationship between man and woman. Without his grace and guidance even marriage will not solve our sexual problems or satisfy our needs. Sex is not enough to satisfy our needs. We need Jesus and the new life that he alone can give us. Read John 10:10. What does Satan (the theif) do to us? What does Jesus Christ offer us? Adam, who rejected the love of God, accused his bride (Eve) when things went wrong (Genesis 3:12). Jesus took the sins of his bride (the church, the believers) on him. He loved us when we were lost sinners (Romans 5:8). By his death he saved sinners, purified them and made them his church. Read Ephesians 5:25-32. How much should a husband love his wife? How much did Christ love the church? (Verse 25.) Our greatest need as human beings is to receive the love of God that he freely gives us in Jesus Christ. We must be sorry for our turning away from God's love and we must turn to him again - because he turned to us. Read John 6:37-40. What will Jesus not do to you if you come to him? (Verse 37.) What will you receive? (Verse 40.) The greatest miracle in the world is the gospel: the message that God loves sinners and that he is willing to receive sinners in spite of our pride and daily sins - especially our sin of rejecting his love for so long. Because Jesus died for us and also because he lived a life of perfect obedience and love towards God and man, we can give ourselves to God. Our love will be very weak. But the love of God for us, and the love of Jesus for God on our behalf, gives us full assurance that we will be accepted if we give ourselves to God. Marriage is not enough. We must be "married" to God first. We must end the "divorce" and come back to him. We must answer his call of love. Read Mathew 6:33. What should you do first of all? What will follow? Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to you because I am a lost sinner. Thank you  that you love me and that you took the punishment for my sins on you. Make  me new, so that I may know what real love is. Amen. Questions to Discuss in the Group 1. Can love be a commandment, or should it come spontaneously? 2. When may a wife disobey her own husband? 3. Should a husband take decisions without consulting his wife? 4. Compare your answers with Ephesians 5:22-33.