A man should look at his wife or fiancée and gasp .

Do you know what God has given you (or is in the process of giving you)? That woman, that terrifying, glorious woman made in His image, was created by God and redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in her. She is of immense value to God. She is precious to Him. She is His daughter, an heir of the promise, a co-heir of the grace of life with you. Do you feel that? Does it make your chest knot up? Do you get a little bit afraid? Maybe a lot afraid? Good. Hold that pose.

In recent decades , we have reduced marriage to a permanent roommate situation with sexual benefits. But marriage is not about something as low-stakes as "who gets to control the remote." Your husband or wife is no mere mortal, but an eternal soul who is going to grow closer to God or further from Him because they are married to you. Add children to the mix-even more eternal souls! That's why the biblical picture of the family is something far more powerful, far more dangerous, far more glorious-far more like a nuclear reactor than anything else in modern society.