REMEMBER YOUR VOWS!

Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?” “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. —Mark 10:3-5

Remember these words? “I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife/husband from this day forward, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, to love and to cherish until death do us part.” This is a covenant a man and woman made with their wife/husband. It is binding before Almighty God, but…

I was recently listening to a preacher on the radio as I was riding along. He was talking about how people give the reason of “irreconcilable differences” to justify their divorce. He said, “Irreconcilable differences! My wife and I have those all the time because we are so different.” That is going to happen in a marriage and if a person does not understand that before marriage then they are already setting themselves up for disappointment. Conflict is not bad in a marriage, depending on how it is worked out. It is a matter of loving the person you are married to and putting their desires ahead of your own. Followers of Jesus Christ are called to be servants and that begins in our homes, in begins in our marriages.

In the verses above Jesus tells us that Moses allowed divorce because of “hard hearts.” Their hearts were void of the Holy Spirit’s tenderness and were like dry earth for lack of water, hardened by the sun. They were in rebellion, harsh and stubborn against the desires of God and the best interests of their spouse. These hard-hearted people are selfish, little gods usurping the authority of God. That is not a pretty picture of someone who is supposed to be a follower of God as those people in the verses above claimed to be. May we be faithful in our marriages, understanding that we will always have differences to some degree in marriage.

Dear Father, help us to be faithful to the covenant we made with our spouse before you. Please give us wisdom to work through conflicts and to mature through them. May this be so to honor You in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. Oh, that we would not have hard hearts, but tender and pliable hearts.