I sat across the small, circular table, gripping my warm coffee cup as “Michelle” told me her story. I used to be zoned in, but at any time, I could have stopped Michelle and volunteered to complete telling the remainder of her story. As a wedding coach and pastoral counselor, I’ve heard all of it before. Michelle’s version included some more theatrical elements previously untold, however the fundamental script was the identical. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall head over heels in love. God sanctions the boy and girl’s marriage. Boy and girl have two kids and shortly realize, thereafter, “they’ve fallen out of affection” and “don’t feel called to be married any longer.”
I don’t know if the questioning expression dripping from Michelle’s deep brown eyes beckoned my approval, understanding, or sympathy. I could offer understanding, sympathy, and empathy, but I couldn’t get approval.
“Michelle, what biblical reason do you could have to divorce your husband?” I asked.
She looked stunned. Her eyes searched the corners of the coffee house for answers before they returned to mine. “I just don’t consider all this conflict is healthy. It’s not healthy for us or our youngsters. I don’t think God wants us to be this unhappy anymore.”
The problem with Michelle’s summation of her marriage and the issue with over 50% of Christian couples who divorce is a lack of information of God’s purpose for marriage. God is more involved in holiness than happiness. That doesn’t mean he wants women in long skirts, no makeup, and on the beck and call of their husbands to their detriment. It does mean that He is always at work to make us more like His son than he’s working to make us completely happy. Yes, marriage is one in every of God’s discipleship tools to sanctify and unify us. Happiness is a byproduct of obedience, not the precursor to obedience.
Because we live in a social media, snip it and tweet it in society, popular catchphrases can rage like wildfire in seconds. Some of those catchphrases seem sensible, but they’re quite shallow. Here are 4 popular phrases which might be damaging the aim of what God intended marriage to be:
Photo Credit: Image created using DALL.E 2024 AI technology and subsequently edited and reviewed by our editorial team.
