Those of you who have followed me for some time know that I have taken a hiatus from writing. I have tried to keep focused on saying the things God wants me to say and listening during the season God asks me to be still.
I have actually considered shutting down operations here all together. But I am getting the message it isn’t quite time for that. So I asked God what do you want me to say. I mean there are so many things I have opinions on. There are so many things that the scriptures say and so many things we mortals are messing up.
There is one remaining, pressing call.
Save marriage.
Adultery and divorce have ravaged my church. My extended family is being cut apart by it. Christian families in my community are being torn apart because of it. Hearts are breaking. Children are collateral damage.
Some of these marriages will not be saved. Some of the souls lost may never come back. Some children will never recover.
But if you are reading this today, it may not be too late for you and your marriage.
Why does God want to save your marriage?
He made it. Go all the way back to Genesis, the beginning. When God created Adam this man had it all. He had all the food he wanted. He had dominion over all of creation. He had undefiled fellowship with the Godhead. And yet, he was lacking. He was lonely. He was incomplete.
When God said “Let us make man in our image” the image is of unity. It is separate and distinct personalities being united as one. There is nothing that encompasses that divine oneness like marriage does.
There is nothing that that joins the strength and protection of a fierce God with his tender compassion like a man and a woman. Together the husband and wife represent Jehovah himself on earth.
Destroying that is to destroy that image. It destroys that portrayal. It simply destroys.
Build Hedges
The devil is an adversary. He is a prowling lion. He is a liar. He is a thief. He is a killer.
And he hates marriage.
Hosea, a prophet of God, asked the Creator to build hedges and walls around his wife to keep her faithful to him, and ultimately to God himself.
We need hedges. We need walls of protection around our marriages.
No secrets
Do not ever set the precedent of secret keeping in your home. Don’t have hidden purchases that you keep in the trunk of your car. Don’t have online friends that your spouse doesn’t know about. Never have conversations with a person of the opposite sex online or in person without full approval of your spouse.
Secrets are kept in the dark. The devil dwells in darkness. Christ abides in the light.
Maintain full disclosure to your spouse about your thoughts, your struggles your temptations and your weaknesses. Cultivate a relationship of mutual confession and open conversation. Keep no secrets.
Forgive Like Crazy
The thing about portraying the image of God, well it is complicated by the fact that we aren’t God. We are fallible. We are sinful. We are flesh.
Being joined to someone who has the nature of man is not for grudge holders. It requires you to extend as much forgiveness as you have received.
That forgiveness may look foolish to some. It may look weak to some. But to God, it looks like Jesus.
Nurture Intimacy
No, this isn’t just sex. A healthy sex life starts at 8:00 in the morning. It starts with conversation. It starts with appreciation. It starts with seeing your spouses needs and being willing to meet them where ever they are.
As the world around us forsakes marriage, every time God’s people build a strong home on the foundation of a healthy marriage something wonderful happens- our light shines. Exponential blessings occur. The lost will be found. The blind will see. And our God will be glorified.
Heavenly Father,
Lord you are the giver of marriage. There was a moment we looked longingly and lovingly to our husbands and wives. There was a time we wanted nothing other than to be married. Then sin happened. Our hearts were lead astray. We were tempted and some of us fell.
Jesus, please come and pick us up. The same way you came to the woman caught in the act of adultery so long ago. Come to us now. Come and dust us off. Come and love us so that we can go and “sin no more.”
In Jesus Name, Amen.
