God miraculously met the needs of the Israelites in the wilderness. And what did God ask in return? Love. And love, to God, meant the Israelites recognition of and gratitude for the great things that God did for them.

Once God gives us His instructions, He says, “It’s up to you. You can either have faith in Me or not. If you demonstrate faith and follow My instructions, you will live well. If you fail to demonstrate faith and disobey My instructions, you will live poorly, and then you will die.”

The reason for God’s objective admonition that husbands and wives have an exclusive sexual relationship with one another is for the proper raising and protection of children. God gives us the commandment of marriage so that no child will be born to parents that are not related to one another, not committed to one another, and that have not formed a cooperative coalition to parent the child.

A man only feels committed to a woman and should only have sex with her after he has voluntarily committed himself to her in marriage. And a man will only commit to a girl when he is mature enough to decide that he is ready to settle down, and the girl is the one girl that he wants to be with for the rest of his life.

Jesus Christ gave Himself sacrificially, meaning that He put His personal feelings aside and did that which was necessary so that He could accomplish that which God gave Him to do, regardless of the pain that it caused Him. And He is our example.

Marriage is not designed to produce constant euphoric emotional satisfaction or sexual ecstasy, marriage is designed to be the process by which we purposefully meld two lives into one that mirrors the relationship between the three parts of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The commitment for which Jesus calls is one of a living sacrifice. Jesus calls men to give their all to the task at hand, even unto death.

Jesus Christ tells us that although we need to believe the historical facts about His life death and resurrection, we need to do more in order to be saved than just believe the facts. We must put our own covetous desires to one side, just as we do on the job or as wives do when they obey their husbands. We must pick up the cross, just as when we do the things that the boss asks us to do or as husbands do when they love their wives and give themselves for them. We must follow the instructions and commandments of Jesus Christ.