What is the tie that binds? Part 2

If you have not read part one, then part two will not make much sense to you, so please read part one first.

In part one I promised to try to find a possible link between the end of Mark chapter 9 and the beginning of chapter 10 so as to make application to my own marriage.

When we are thinking about marriage we have to go back to the original marriage to see what God had in mind.

When we go back to Genesis chapter two we see that on the sixth day of creation God made the living creatures and when he finished his creation and he saved the best for last. He created the most magnificent creature of them all, man, and why was this creature the most magnificent of them all, because he made man in his own image. 

On day seven he took the day off to admire his creation because he had a really grand plan for the next day, the eighth day. He made a helpmate for the man.

He put Adam to sleep and removed a part of his side, a bone, a rib, and from it he fashioned his best work yet, the most beautiful creature in his Universe, a woman.

Incidentally, the bride of Adam was created on the eight day and the bride of Jesus, the church, was also created on the eighth day, resurrection day, and she came from the side of Jesus, the 2nd Adam.

After this simple surgery, Adam was an incomplete man because part of his anatomy was missing. The missing part was in his helpmate.

Adam knew that he was incomplete because something just didn't feel right on his side, there was a void where one of his ribs should be. He tries to explain this void in Genesis 2:23, "This one is bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh. She will be called woman because she was taken from man." 

And in verse 24 we read, "This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one."

Verse 24 tells us that the man is only complete when his wife stands by his side. No one else can make him a complete man, not even his father or mother.

Now, if we go back to the last verse in Mark chapter nine we learned, "You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other."

Everyone knows that salt adds or enhances flavor to food. Some folks say that food without salt is bland, boring, or just not complete.

Here is an interesting fact. People are attracted to the opposite sex who have qualities different or opposite from theirs. One of the laws of physics tells us that opposites attract.

When a man who is weak in some qualities marries a woman who is strong in those qualities they compliment each other and become a whole person when they are standing at each other's sides and working together. Interestingly, the world and its worldly seers say just the opposite. Just look at the dating apps.

 Too much salt, however, occurs when one mate Lords it over the other. A person like that is said to be salty.

Salt is also used as a preservative. When I was a boy we didn't have electricity or a refrigerator. My folks used to pack fresh meat into a stone crock surrounded by salt.

Salt kills micro organisms that spoil or actually decay meat and without these deadly micro organisms meat retains its nutritional value and taste. 

In Ephesians chapter 5 Paul gives us the qualities of a healthy marriage. He instructs men to love their wives and women to honor their husbands. 

These two verbs, love and honor, compliment each other. By loving and honoring each other, the participants in the marriage are careful to be on guard protecting their mates from influences that would be harmful or even destroy them.

They encourage each other and are always discerning the subtle little things that could spoil and eventually destroy their relationship.

In the first part of Mark 9:50 Jesus warns us with these words, "Salt is good for seasoning. But if it looses its saltiness, how do you make it salty again?"

The answer to that question is, "You can't." Once impurities are mixed with salt it looses its properties and according to Jesus' words in Mathew 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt looses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people."

Could this be the reason why 50% of the marriages in America are thrown out and trampled by people?

So, getting back to the original question that precipitated this whole discussion, "What is the secret ingredient for holding a marriage together?"

Could it be SALT?

Could the covenant made between a man and a woman on their wedding day be called, "A salt covenant?"

My question to you the reader is, "Does any of this make sense?"