Nothing to Hide

I read an article today about men who choose not to wear their wedding rings in public either because they want to appear single or to “stake their claim on their independence.” One guy was quoted in the article as saying: “I see it as suffocating . . . like, ‘I have this on my finger because the other person owns me.’” What a sad statement.

I’m not married, but when I am, I will be proud to wear my ring. It will signify that my wife and I are one. Not that we own each other, as Mr. Suffocated would put it. What a misguided thing to say. Marriage is not about ownership or domination. It’s about mutual respect and selfless love. Scripture says that the man and woman become one flesh. Marriage is thus a mysterious and beautiful union. Why would I want to hide that from anyone?

If only people understood God’s beautiful design in creating the institution of marriage, perhaps many of the social ills we see today will be non-existent. Gone would be divorce, domestic violence, infidelity, children torn by broken homes . . . and those are just some of the immediate effects of broken marriages. The ripple effects are even more far-reaching.

Am I idealistic and naive? Maybe. I’m not saying that marriage is all bliss. I’ve been around enough married couples to know that marriage can be very, very hard work. A couple is bound to have disagreements. But that doesn’t take away from the beauty of marriage. I am convinced that a marriage founded and lived out according to Godly principles — where the husband and wife are committed to loving each other selflessly, just like Christ loves us — is a glorious thing. Certainly, it is not something to hide.