Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?

Gary Thomas

In Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas challenges the common assumption that the primary purpose of marriage is personal happiness. Instead, he asks a provocative question: What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy? Thomas presents marriage as a spiritual discipline through which God exposes our selfishness, develops our character, and teaches us to love, forgive, serve, and sacrifice more like Christ. Drawing from Scripture, Christian tradition, and real marriages, he shows how both the joys and difficulties of married life can draw spouses closer to God and ultimately closer to one another. It is a thoughtful reframing of marriage—not simply as a relationship to be improved, but as one of God's important instruments for spiritual formation.