Jesus 101: Committed in Marriage


We're in a peculiar place in our culture in relation to marriage.  On one hand, marriages are breaking up at a high rate.  On the other, gay people are wanted to get married.  

This suggests to me that God has put in us a deep desire for the sustaining good marriage brings.  At the same time, our sinful brokenness makes it difficult to sustain our marriages.  

In Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus addresses the topics of adultery and divorce. He says adultery is born in our inner lusts for each other.  Adultery begins in our hearts, so it's best to "nip it in the bud" while it's there.  Entertaining lustful thoughts is a sin in itself, which can lead to the sin of acting on them.

Jesus says divorce is also a sin.  God's intention was for marriage to be one man and one woman in a one flesh relationship for life (see Genesis 2:23-24).  He said that if a man divorces his wife, he causes her to commit adultery.  That's because in those days, her only paths to survival were to remarry or to become a prostitute.  

Jesus' words cause us to reflect deeply on what's going on in our inner worlds.  They call us to take control of our lustful thoughts before they lead to even more destructive outward actions.  

Jesus' words also cause us to be committed to our marriages.  One of the leading causes for divorce in our country is lack of commitment to our marriages.  We vow to stay together until we part in death.  But we have a difficult time doing so!

I don't think we need to go back to the time when divorced Christ followers wore a scarlet "D" at church.  They need to receive God's mercy and grace.  But we do need to do more to support marriages and encourage married folk to honor the commitments they made when they God married!

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