A Design of Delight

“Faithfulness is more than refusing the wrong person; it is delighting in the person God has given you.”

We know marriage was designed by God to illustrate His relationship with the Church. In other words, God drew us a picture. He placed His picture of marriage safely within the frame of the 7th Commandment.

God uses other human relationships in Scripture regarding our relationship with Him, such as a servant and a master, or a father and a son. But the picture of marriage sheds its own unique light on several aspects of our relationship with God.

It highlights commitment and exclusivity, service and sacrifice. But perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of the marriage illustration is delight.

It is the couple taking long walks to nowhere simply for the joy of who they are traveling with. It is hours of conversation that fly by because two hearts have found their safest place in each other. It is finding yourself in the trenches of parenting or just life in general, and having the comfort of your favorite person beside you through it all. There was meant to be a delight to marriage, and it was God’s idea.

God does not just set limitations on what we cannot have; He places joy in what we can.

This is the beauty of the gospel. It is not drudgery of constantly refusing what we desire; it is a heart transformation that allows us to delight in what God desires for us to have.

The refusal of all others is not a burden. It is the logical response of recognizing the blessing you already possess.

And so it is as we pursue our relationship with Christ. If following His commandments and cultivating our relationship has become a list of do’s and dont’s, or a depressing list of things we can’t do or have, then the heart of our relationship needs an examination. There’s truly joy in serving Jesus, and it’s there by design. As we pursue Him, our hearts are transformed. And we begin to choose Him. Not just because it is demanded. But because it is our delight.