A story is told of a couple standing at the altar and, as custom would have it, the minister asks,
“if there is anyone present who knows of a reason why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace”.
Suddenly a voice calls out “ooh me, me, me!”. The minister turns to the man and says, “be quiet! You can’t object, you’re the groom”! It’s a cute story; not sure if it’s true but it is definitely, unfortunately, credible!
These days, it seems like these days “forever” no longer has any meaning. Statements like “for richer or poorer” are hedged by prenuptial agreements (unethical and immoral, if not illegal, in my opinion), and “til death do us part” just means “while this sensation lasts”. What’s even more tragic is that it’s not just in the secular world anymore. In fact, divorce rates among self-identified Christians are approaching that of the world at large. Let examine marriage in the era of cheap love.
What is ‘true’ love? What is cheap love?
What would have become of us if Jesus’ love for us was just a “feeling” that He had? Emotions, of themselves, have no intellect so if Jesus only had “feelings” for us, His conviction to die an excruciating death on the Cross would have been, at best, an ephemeral sensation and He could have changed His mind at any time! Thankfully, true Love is not a feeling but, as Jesus taught us on the Cross, an action! Love is not felt, it is done, acted upon, completed. After all, love is a verb; love is an action word.
As Born-again, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing Christians, we cannot succumb to the world system’s tactics and schemes. We cannot get married in churches in the presence of Almighty God and then go to the County Clerk to have it undone. The clerk’s seal is not stronger than God’s Seal! Who can undo what God has done? Who can open what God has closed? Who can curse what God has blessed?
Read: 2 Ways Men Are Failing Their Families
And yet, time and time again, secularists and Believers alike take it upon themselves to overrule God and, as Scripture teaches us, pay the price in their own flesh. As we can plainly see in the society around us, broken marriages bring about broken families that yield broken dreams, broken lives; in fact, the only thing that remains intact is the vicious cycle of brokenness passed on from parent to child to grandchildren.
A Love that lasts
As Men of God, it is our High Calling to love our wives, raise our children in the fear and admonition of God, and to be a beacon of hope to the darkened world around us. In our wedding vows, we swore to “love and to cherish…better or for worse…sickness and in health…til death do us part“.
That is not an invitation to kill your wife so that you can marry someone else; it is a solemn oath taken by God-fearing men to live out and recreate God’s Kingdom and live out His Kingdom Agenda here on earth, while we wait for His return.
Our families, after all, are Kingdom Outposts, Embassies, God’s territory on foreign soil. God never promised it would be easy, but he did promise we wouldn’t be alone.
Bondservant to Jesus Christ, Married to Michele, Dad to Madelyn, Claudia, and Joseph and educator by trade, apologist by calling and saved by Grace. Antonio loves to read, write, and discuss all-things-apologetics. He has many passions in life including reaching, teaching, and keeping men for Jesus Christ. Waiting on God’s big reveal: Antonio knows He has something beautiful in mind.
