one flesh

Teaching about Divorce

31 "You have heard the law that says, `A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.'s32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

matthew 5

had an awesome conversation with God yesterday in my car on the way to school. we were talking about the future, worries, security. i finally lifted everything up to God and told Him that even if He takes everything away from me, i will still rejoice and praise His name. i remember this one thing that jonny from rock harbor said, "take everything but leave me Jesus!" i want that to be my prayer. to let God know that the most important thing in my life is Jesus. that everything else is a blessing. extra. the fact that i'm saved and redeemed is vast and amazing in itself. how could i ever ask for more?

alright, so this verse got me thinking. had to search up an explanation for this one. so the backstory of this verse is that during the time that Jesus was preaching, men would go ahead and ditch their wives for new lovers. actually doesn't sound too foreign or ancient. these men would then leave their old wives to fend for themselves. if they had family, they would go back home in shame. so we have to realize that divorce and remarriage were actually pretty common back then as well, which is why God wanted it to be that if you married you would stay with the person you promised you would be with forever. these laws were meant to protect women from being cheated. because men divorced their wives left and right, and for no good reason, God would not view these divorces as valid. and so, since the divorces weren't valid, they were still technically married. therefore, if a man or woman sought another after this invalid divorce, they were committing adultery! and anyone who marries and consummates a marriage with someone with an invalid divorce would be committing adultery!

all in all, i see how serious marriage is to God. it is supposed to be something beautiful and permanent. not something that we throw away just because we're unhappy. it's something that you have to work on. and i understand there are a lot of relationships and marriages that shouldn't stay together because it's abusive, dangerous, or psychologically damaging. but there are a lot of marriages that aren't like that either. too many people give up. too many people don't give up their marriage to God. too many marriages rely on passion, romance, and butterflies and not enough on companionship, trust, and loyalty. most of all, they don't rely enough on God. to have a marriage without God in it isn't really a marriage at all. it just becomes a tradition or a legal document. bound loosely together by fading feelings. to have a marriage bound by God, now that's unbreakable.