Marriage- just a piece of paper?

Recently, whilst travelling, I was reading an interview in a woman’s magazine with actress Anne Hathaway. Talking of marrying her boyfriend of four years in 2012, she said “I thought I was just going to be signing a piece of paper… I’ve been in a relationship with this person for so many years, how is this going to change anything?”  This attitude towards marriage, commonly held today, is leading more and more people to cohabit – postponing marriage or writing it off altogether.

But as I read on she described how her experience of marriage was quite different from what she had expected, “I was very surprised by the soul stirring that happened… I realise there was a piece of my soul that I was keeping out of bounds from the relationship. When we got married it was suddenly released. I think I’m surprised by how happy I am!”

I too was surprised to hear her say this but I shouldn’t have been. Marriage is a gift, designed and given to us by God. The Bible is clear that the relationship of marriage, where you have made unconditional and public promises to each other, is special and different from living together.

How sad that many young people will miss out on this fulfillment and happiness when they grow up because they believe what society tells them – that marriage is just a piece of paper.