Marriage needs to be a safe place. In the world today, it is a place where people hope for true intimacy that many times does not last. For marriages to last they must be fed and treated carefully, protected. If they are to be strong, intimacy must be maintained. One definition of intimacy was given as “An affectionate bond, the strands of which are composed of mutual caring, responsibility, trust, open communication of feelings and sensations, as well as the non-defended interchange of information about significant events.” -Willie Oliver, Family Ministries
In Genesis 2:25 we find the Biblical definition of intimacy. “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
For true nakedness in a marriage it must be of soul – emotional, spiritual, and physical.
Barriers to oneness are self-protection and the fear of rejection, sin and selfishness, and lack of knowledge.
If you want your marriage to succeed and be healthy, “Determine to be all that is possible to be to each other. Continue the early attentions. In every way encourage each other in fighting the battles of life…Let there be mutual love, mutual forbearance. Then marriage, instead of being the end of love, will be as it were the very beginning of love.” – Ellen White, Happiness Homemade, p. 24.