Today, we have an added feature of blended families. Now, children not only go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas, but they go to Grandma and Step-Granda's house, or, Step-Grandma and Grandpa's house! Very interesting. This happened years ago too, but the reason was different. Many people were widowed, and then remarried. Although that still happens today, sadly, many homes are affected by divorce.
Divorce is one of those weird things that is hard to understand in a Biblical framework. It's not hard to understand in our modern culture though. All of us come to the marriage alter with sinful, self-centered hearts, some of which are being sanctified and are growing closer to God, and away from self, while others still continue to enjoy being selfish and will use marriage to try to fulfill selfish wishes.
If life is to work right, and ultimately serve us well, we can't be selfish. We must learn to do hard work and not be afraid of doing hard things. There is no where in God's word that tells us that God created us to be 'happy'. Many think that God is here to serve us, and that we should be 'happy' because God wants us happy. It's not that God wants us happy or unhappy. That misses the whole point of why God created us. It is a trick of the devil to mislead us to make us miss the point of why God created us in the first place, which is to bring glory to His name, to be reconciled to Him, and to be filled with the 'joy of the Lord'. Simply speaking, we were created to worship God, not other things, including ourselves. Everyone is a worshipper. It is just a question of what or who is the object of worship.
If we are looking to marriage to make us 'happy' we are going to be disappointed. The Cinderella story is a lie. People don't get married and live happily ever after. God wants to make us holy, and it will not always be easy. But God promises to give us the help we need, if we want it and ask for it.
The main point though, that I want to bring out is that today, in our society, and sadly, in many of our churches, there are those who would counsel people to get a divorce. Not only for reasons of a spouse committing adultery, either. I was reading about a Christian musical artist who divorced her husband while having an affair. While she was having counseling, the counselor actually told her that her marriage had failed. The counselor also indicated that God wants us happy and if a person is not happy in the marriage, they need to get out of it. Now I ask, where is that in the Bible? If you were to ask the counselor, he or she would probably say something to the affect of, 'we see what is happening in society. The Bible was written many, many years ago, and it doesn't really apply to us today.' There are also Christians who actually believe that when culture and the Bible are in conflict, that the Bible must submit to culture. Culture is more relevant than the Bible. Can you see a problem here?
I must have my head in the sand or something like that because I am so surprised when I hear things like this, yet, this kind of teaching is rampant throughout the church in America today. This is not only contributing to the breakdown of the family, but it is leading people to misunderstand the Gospel and become false converts. How many times have you talked with someone about the Gospel only to have them tell you (with strong affirmation) that 'God is all-loving', or, 'God is all-forgiving'. While it is true that God forgives those who repent and is love, these people mean that to say basically, 'I can do whatever I want, and God will forgive me'. I run into this all the time.
We need to pray for the church and our country. We need to seek to restore what has been lost. We need to teach what the Bible says about marriage, divorce, relationships, and the Gospel. We need to know the truth, and we need to be proclaiming it.
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| Besides the physical family unit, there are two basic families; God's family and the devil's family. Every person is in one of these two families. |
