When a bride and a groom gaze into each other’s eyes at the altar, exchanging rings and solemnly sharing their vows, they are not saying, “I really do love you,” but “I really will love you.” Marriage is not mainly a love found, but a love promised — not mainly a love discovered, but a love declared.

Those two little words “I do” are a pledge to be faithful and to love each other no matter how hard it gets, no matter what comes, no matter how much either one of them might want to get up and walk away. Compatibility, passion, and infatuation cannot fuel that sort of marriage, but Christ can. He alone is the strength, beauty, and joy of Christian marriage — the one who can keep it happy and healthy for life.

Not Yet Married

The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness and Dating

Marshall Segal

This is a book for not-yet-married people that’s not mainly about marriage, or even dating, but about God and our role in his world.