From Pastor John Collins:
“But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.’” Mark 10: 6-8 (NKJV).
Divorces are now the norm and multiple marriages with
blended families are finding their way through the complications of upheaval.
Commitment from the very beginning and the willingness to see it through to the
end in relationships is definitely on the decline. What makes people want to
end marriages and begin again? Many times, lust is mistaken for love and allows
people to justify changing spouses and too often these changes come without the
benefits of marriage to begin with. Too many marriages are based on lust and
not on love. People want to be romanced and to have their lives filled with
heightened passion that is full of excitement and delight. Too many times
adultery is the result of seeking this excitement and too often a spouse is
discarded because someone fell out of love.
Love and marriage are meant to be a commitment. You are
supposed to be a team and you are meant to work together through the bad and
the good. Too often long term goals and world viewpoints are not discussed before
any commitment takes place, with or without any marriage license. When a couple
chooses to take on life together, they need to make the effort to stay resolute
in their fidelity to each other and to find the character within themselves to
see it through. Marriage is more than lust and passion is not a reason for
marriage, for without the faith to see it through, to be on your spouse’s team
against all odds, you will find your marriage failing and you will find
yourself divorced. Any passion that is stolen with another or any relationship
that is created to avoid the obligations of home are going to leave a thirst
inside of you and is indeed sin that will taint your soul. Faith and honor
matter and marriage matters to God, for He gave it as a gift to you. It takes
courage to stay committed and to stay faithful in this fallen and wanton world
that we live in, but in the end it is worth it.
Do not let your flesh determine your steadfastness because
the heart is desperately wicked and will deceive you into thinking that love is
guiding you, when it is not. Choose a partner that is faithful, willing to go
the extra mile and is committed to living as your teammate. If you find that
your marriage is struggling then do a heart-check and find a way, through prayer
and the word of God, to see what is motivating any distance between you and
your spouse. A marriage takes work and a marriage is more than passion, romance
and excitement. Your spouse is meant to be your biggest helpmate and together
you are meant to stand strong against an evil world.
“Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:9 (NKJV).
