Two Words That Will Improve Your Marriage Instantly


Hebrew 13:4 is one of the Bible’s top two or three verses about marriage: Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

This verse gives us two powerful instructions — two rules into for a thriving marriage — and we can sum them up in two words: Priority and Purity.

Rule Number One: Marriage Deserves Priority. This verse says: “Marriage should be honored by all….” You’ve got respect and honor and give priority to your marriage. Every married couple is getting a little closer or a little further apart every day. You have to work on your relationship, to give it priority, to consider the most important thing in your life after your relationship with the Lord. You’ve got to determine that divorce is not an option for you, that distance is not healthy, and that you’ve got to work hard at making your marriage the best it can be. You’ve got to love the one who shares your life, recognizing that love is a choice as much or more than a feeling.

Rule Number Two: Marriage Demands Purity. The verse goes on to say: “…and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” We’re to love the husband or wife God gave us, and to guard with all diligence against anything or anyone who would pull our heart away from our marriage commitment. I read the other day in a London newspaper about a man who worked in an office building, and he stayed behind after the other workers had left for the day. He logged onto a pornography website and was watching it, but he forgot to pull the blinds of his office window. His back was to the window, and people up and down the sidewalk saw what was happening. His coworkers were across the street having supper and they and could see him through the open windows along with what he watching. One of them took a picture of him and his computer screen clearly visible, and posted it online. It was a cause of great merriment to them. The same article talked about a school teacher who hooked up his laptop to a projection screen his classroom to present his lecture, but he didn’t realize he still was connected to a pornography website. That’s what appeared on the screen, and one of the students snapped a picture of it with his phone and it became an Internet sensation.

You should live such a clean life that if anyone saw your computer screen or listened to your conversations or read your e-mails, you would have nothing to be ashamed of. The Bible warns us here that purity is important for marriage. We must guard against developing any habits or relationships outside of marriage that compete for the affection of the one to whom we are married. If you give your marriage priority and purity, it will be a little stronger ever day.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.