Marriage is one of those words that has kind of lost it's original meaning. It kind of gets tossed around like it doesn't mean anything. A good majority of people are getting married for the wrong reasons. Maybe the reason that so many marriages end in divorce is because we really have lost the original meaning of marriage. If you want to have a good marriage, you should probably know what marriage is truly intended for.

What marriage is not.

A way to get away from your parents

A response to an unplanned pregnancy

A temporary agrement until something better comes along

A way to get a tax break

So if this isn't what marriage is for, then What really is marriage? The idea of marriage is actually from the Bible. The Bible says that God has set up the institution of marriage. Marriage is leaving your father and mother, and joining with another person. It is two different people becoming one person. You get the license from the state to make it official to the government, and then you have the ceremony. The ceremony is an agreement before man and God where you two are really one person for the rest of your life.

When it's viewed that way, as it was originally intended, it has a more serious and important nature behind it. When you view it in those terms, it's more of a one shot deal. There are no plan B's or backup plans. With that in mind, you know you have to work things out, you can't just throw in the towel. Those words "for better or for worse, until death do you part" aren't just filler words before "I DO." They really do mean something and do serve a purpose. You're not just agreeing to move in together and be husband and wife. You're agreeing to be unselfish, to serve the other person, to put them first, no matter what comes along. You know that you shouldn’t get married if you can’t give up or leave all your money, all your possessions, all of your friends or family, or your job for the sake of your spouse. If it comes down to you having to choose one of these things, or your spouse, and you would pick one of these alternate things, then you should not get married. The reason there is such thing as divorce is because they forget this seriousness of what marriage is intended.