Absurdity abounds when two people claim that they can live together more meaningfully without being married. More than one young person has said to me, "But a marriage license is little more than a scrap of paper." That’s right. But wait. Aren’t some scraps of paper important? Sure, a wedding license is a scrap of paper but so is your pay check, a twenty-dollar bill, the deed to your home, the Constitution of our country. Many such scraps of paper are important because they say more than the little bit of fiber that comprises them. The wedding license is one way of showing that marriage is intended to be permanent. It’s really a very important scrap of paper.

Having counseled many casualties of today’s sexual revolution, I believe the biblical perspective on marriage is still the best. One man for one woman. One woman for one man. Both committing themselves to each other, becoming involved in a mutual destiny.

For the Christian man and woman marriage is serious business. Both are anxious to reach their creative potential through the person God has given them. And as man and woman stand before the altar of God, they commit themselves to one another, seeking the Father’s blessings to help them be one in love and purpose for life.

Next to the full potential that God desires for marriage every other kind of relationship falls short. For God has made one man and one woman for each other for one marriage. And when they discover each other and God’s will for their lives, they come and stand before his altar declaring it boldly and proudly to him, to one another, and to the world.

All else is third best.