Have you ever been witness to an impending moment—a falling plate, two cars inches from collision—where all you can do is gasp for air? A horrified moment where your body freezes and you cannot speak? I’ve felt this most recently in watching several friends’ marriages unravel. Yes, as in more than one couple.
Friends and their spouses who are—or were, or perhaps aren’t sure anymore—Christians.
The older I get, the slower I speak, as James encourages us. But sometimes I don't even know what to say. I refuse to offer trite advice without first learning the facts of a situation. But what leads people down such a path? Selfishness. And while we all like to espouse that “it takes two to tango,” sometimes it really is just one member of a covenant who chooses to walk away. I know that for two of my friends, despite their own faults, this is what is happening to them.
For those of us left standing, still married, and wanting to honor the vows we made in the presence of God Himself, what’s to be done? Perhaps a little perspective will help.
I love what Gary Thomas shares in an issue of In Touch magazine. His article, “In a Foreign Land,” states just that—that we aren’t in our permanent home. We are strangers in a strange land, and if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He will one day welcome us into an eternal home.
God made this world, and saw that it was good. Yet we allowed sin and death to enter through the act of rebellion, and so it’s also a dark place. A cold place. Jesus warned that toward the end, “because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:12).
If you are married, God joined you to a person with whom you’re called to walk out the rest of your days on this earth. Think: You aren’t alone as you journey in a foreign land! God longs to use your spouse to help you cross that finish line.
Written by Joseph E. Miller
