That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Growing relationships require regular investments of emotional energy. Because humans have the capacity for emotional engagement, there is a level of feeling and understanding that machines or animals can never attain. God’s creation—created in His image—is able to engage in intimate encounters. Emotions are meant to move people toward the eternal.
Marriage especially demands growing emotional intelligence to thrive and not merely survive. The Lord has created an emotional vacuum within a husband and within a wife that only their spouse can fill. It is folly to seek to meet this very real need with work or the children, for false substitutes only stunt emotional maturity in marriage. One flesh means to forge an alliance and an allegiance between our mind, our will and our emotions.
“It [love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7).
