Therefore do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters in marriage for your sons. Do not ever seek their peace or welfare, so that you may be strong and may eat the good of the land and may leave it as an inheritance for your children forever.’ “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this.” Ezra 9:12-13 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/ezr.9.12-13.NET

As Ezra rebuilt the temple for worshipping God, he discovered that the hearts of the people who would worship God were far from Him. So too, today, we have many churches in our land but not many true worshippers. One big reason for our divided hearts is our divided marriages. A Christian boy or girl marries a non-Christian boy or girl, creating a family weak in commitment to the Lord, resulting in children who grow up not committed to the Lord. Marriage is not the venue for evangelism though many have come to faith through their spouse’s testimony and deeds. This is not God’s way. God’s way is for committed followers of Jesus to marry committed followers of Jesus. The most important relationship we have is with our God. The second most important relationship we have is with our spouse. These two relationships must be in sync with each other. Our God must be our greatest and first love, proven by our obedience to Him first and most. Compromise to the word of God results in disobedience to God’s will, causing us and our society many pains. If we would experience peace and joy in our own lives now and life eternal with God’s good pleasure to come, we must live lives pleasing to God today, which includes binding ourselves to those who love God as we love God and then helping others love Him too so that the number of those who love and obey His commands increases.