Hey everyone, welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe show. I am your host, Dr. Axe, and each and every week on

this show, I explore the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, spirit, and take your

health and your life to the next level. Today, we're going to be diving into the sacred institution

of marriage, and we'll explore shocking statistics, biblical principles, and practical tips for a thriving

marriage and family life.

And the reality is this, if your marriage is sick, it affects your physical health.

If your marriage is sick, it typically affects your soul and your spirit.

And so I'm going to get into these things today, share some practical things that, uh things and even some experiences that Chelsea and I have had as well. Before I dive into the content,

though, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the notification bell so you don't miss

a single episode. So let's dive into the content. Listen to this statistic. This absolutely shocks me.

In the U.S., marriage has declined by 60% since the 1970s. And while the median age for first marriages has increased for both men and women, we see that, right? I mean, how many people were getting married in their late teens and early 20s, and now many people wait until their 30s and 40s to get

married. And as proof of this, Pew Research recently found that one in four 40-year-old American

adults have never been married. Today, people often see marriage as a me marriage. It's all about me,

and I need to marry someone to make me happy. In fact, I want to share you a story. I have a dear, dear friend of mine. He was dating the same girl for 12 years. And I said to him, I said, hey, why don't you get married? And he said, well, you know what? I don't even know if we should be together. She doesn't make me, you know, she doesn't always make me happy. And I said, well, hey, I just want you to let you know that the purpose of marriage is not for her to make you happy. It's for you to make each other holy. It's for you to love her and serve her and pursue her and make her dreams come true. And he said, oh, okay, I didn't think about it like that. Well, it's crazy. She ended up kind of leaving him and the next year they ended up getting married and now

they've been happily married for probably about 10 years now and all that being said but i think it's

this is a cultural thing again people see marriage today as a me marriage this is really connected to a

modern identity you've probably heard me talk before about the difference between a modern identity

a traditional identity, a traditional

identity, and a divine identity. The modern identity is all about me. I'm getting married so you can make

my life better, so you can make my life more interesting, you can help me reach my goals. That's the

modern identity. And by the way, a traditional identity is a little better, but it's not that much better.

Typically in the past, it was all about social and economic benefits. That was a big part of

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