Commitment Isn't What It Used to Be - Marriage Message #4 (100 hits)

Copied from Marriage Ministries

We were waiting in the City Courthouseto obtain passports, we noticed a man and a woman who were obviously going to get married that day. There was so much kissing, hugging, laughing, and talk of "love"going on that you could almost see the electricity of it all in the air. In contrast,standing next to them in another line, was a woman who was filing for divorce andanother woman behind her who was also filing for divorce. The air around them was filled with anything but love and optimism! It was obvious, from the countenance andthe words they were throwing around, that they were extremely hurt and angry! Steve and I remarked to each other that it was surprising that a thunderstorm didn'terupt before our very eyes in the courthouse because of the clash of the differentforms of energy these people were emitting in the same room! How tragic it was to see the difference in the countenance of all of these people.The couple who were getting married were obviously overjoyed as their dreams werebeing realized. The others were noticeably distraught as their dreams appeared tobe shattered. We're sure those who were divorcing, never in their wildest imaginations, everthought on their wedding day that they'd ever be standing in line to get a divorce.How could something that starts out with so much joy and enthusiasm deteriorateinto such utter sadness and distress?

What could have happened we wondered? Tragically, a lot can happen! And more people than we want to count have found thatto be true! And yet marrying and divorcing is still going on all around us. Butwhat's especially distressing is that those who claim to be "Christians" aremarrying and divorcing at almost the same rate as those who don't claim to live bythe values of Christ. Why is that, we wonder? One of the many, many reasons, we surmise, is that marital commitment isn't want itused to be (as we see from the rising divorce rate in recent years). And itdefinitely isn't what it SHOULD be -- not by Biblical standards, especially! The question we ask is: What has happened to keeping our promises of commitment in howwe live out our marital vows "till death do we part?" We're told in the Bible to let our "yes be yes" and our "no be no." We're calledas believers in Jesus Christ to be promise keepers, remembering that we made ourvow not only to our spouse, but also to our God. In the light of what we promisedeach other and God, what has happened to our commitment to live out the covenantpromise "till death do we part?" Is our marriage vow only to be lived out "tilllove ends do we part" or "till hatred begins do we part" as those outside of theChristian faith appear to believe? How will they know we are Christians by the"love we show to one another" when our marriages show nothing much different fromtheirs? Author Dennis Rainey addresses this subject in his book "One Home at a Time"(published by Tyndale House). In it he writes: "Marriage is not just a privateexperiment, littered with prenuptial agreements and an attitude of 'Try me! If it doesn't work, you can always bail out!' Marriage is not some kind of social contract -- something you just 'do' for as long as you both shall 'love.'Marriage is a sacred covenant between one man and one woman and their God for a lifetime. It is a public vow of how you will relate to your spouse as you form a new family unit. "Any covenant -- including the marriage covenant -- is a binding, weightyobligation.

In Proverbs 20:25, we read, 'It is a trap for a man to dedicatesomething rashly and only later to consider his vows (NIV). God says, 'I hate divorce' (Malachi 2:16). The Lord didn't stutter when He spoke these words. Itis time for each of us to embrace and proclaim God's sacred view of marriage,as well as His corresponding hatred for divorce." Authors Dennis and Barbara Rainey also challenge our view on marital commitmentin their book, "Moments Together for Couples" (published by Regal Books). Inthe August 11th devotional page they write: "We need to resurrect the truemeaning of commitment. In this age of lite beer, lite syrup and lite saladdressing, it's no wonder we exhibit lite commitment, too. But for a Christian,commitment is a sacred vow and promise to God. It's two people who hang in thereduring the best and worst of times and who won't quit. It's a husband and wifewho find working through problems much more rewarding than walking out. "We need to pass on to our children the real definition of commitment whilecontinually exposing the lies that their peers and the media propagate. Aperson who does not understand his or her ultimate accountability to God haslittle reason to fulfill a vow or commitment to another human being." It is our prayer that ALL of us will join hands as a Christian community toplay an active part in helping those who are considering marriage, includingour children, to slow down and do what they can to make sure they reallyunderstand the covenantal commitment they are heading into when they marry.We pray that we will ALL do what we can to impress upon them to take more time and intentionality in preparing themselves in the best way possible sothey can live out the covenantal commitment of marriage for the rest of theirlives, as God intends.

If you are considering marriage, please, please, please do all you can to make sure the above challenge applies to how you approach marriage. Do not allowyour marital commitment to imitate the world's approach. God takes thecommitment of marriage very seriously and so should we. It is also our prayer for you (and for us this week) that we will view theway in which we interact with our spouse as if our actions are being done "asunto the Lord." We pray that we will live out our marital covenantal commitment-- showing by our words and actions that we are God's promise keepers --communicating the Gospel with and without words to our spouse and those withinour influence. May God richly bless your marriage.

For the Christian Prayer is not an option but an opportunity."In prayer; expect setbacks, but refuse retreat." Do your best, Bring out the best in others.Don't tell the Lord how big the problem is,tell the problem how Great the Lord is!! Yesterday is Gone.Tomorrow is not Promised.What have you done for Christ today? Posted By: Avon F Jones
Monday, August 18th 2008 at 6:44PM
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