I’m in the middle of preparing a sermon for tomorrow morning. (The pastor of the Baptist church I attend kindly lets me preach about once a month – I am an ex Pentecostal preacher but back in secular work for a while.)
I’m preaching on this topic because my sister has just got divorced and some very good friends of ours have just got divorced. My sister and her husband are Christians and so are these friends. Both couples have been married for nearly 30 years. So we are alarmed at the number of Christian marriages that are breaking up.
It’s not my place to judge them however, as a minister I have counselled dozens of Christian couples having marital problems and some of them think the solution to the problem is divorce. There are three questions I usually put to them. The first is, “What do you think God’s will is for your marriage?” No-one has ever answered that God wants them to divorce. At some point my second question is, “What do you have to do to fix your marriage?” There follows a lot of discussion and usually, both of the couple know what needs to be done. When they agree that the marriage is “fixable” and understand what work they need to do to fix it, I then ask the third question, “Are you prepared to fix it?”
What prevents our marriage from ending in divorce? and what prevents us from in-house fighting in church and home? and what prevents us from getting bitter? and what prevents us from all the other pitfalls that would destroy our lives? Surely it is loving God and serving Him with all our hearts. If we make that the goal, we may fail from time to time, but as surely as a compass needle always finds north, we will find ourselves always “fixing” our mistakes and pressing on with God.
May the Lord bless you.
So long until next time
