MARRIAGE IS MEANT TO BE FOR LIFE

MARRIAGE IS FOR LIFE

I was ironing a dress the other day and for every little wrinkle that I ironed out...about 5 more were ironed in!! I thought it was just me and a bad day to iron, but then I realized it was the material. It was just not good dress material.

 You know...marriage is like that. Some people are just not good marriage material.

 People though, unlike that dress material, can change. If you are planning to marry, make sure you are good marriage material and make sure the one you are marrying is also. If you find otherwise, postpone that wedding until you grow up, because divorce destroys homes, not just a relationship between two people.

I heard a sermon the other day (from one of my favorite people and my very favorite preacher) that compared a home to a garden. A home is where God intended for a family to be nurtured and in which little children grow up. Those little plants need tender care and attention to grow up as God intended.

 He said: "What if you had a beautiful garden and some one came across it with a bulldozer, and just plowed it up and crushed it down!" Divorce does that to homes and families. No wonder God said in Malachi that He hates divorce.
A family broken by natural sickness and death is left in better shape than one broken by divorce. My brother, sister and I were raised in this kind of home situation and I can tell you that as bad as death is, it is much kinder than a divorce in the home.

Malachi 2: 10-16 is very interesting. God tells why He instituted marriage: Because He was seeking Godly offspring.He is talking to Judah and telling them some of the mistakes they have made as His chosen nation and as individuals:

"Have we not all one Father ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty." Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands."

"You ask, 'Why?' "

"It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant."

"Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth."

"I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith."

 So if you are contemplating divorce in your life, please think again. Do everything possible to keep that from happening. Forgive, if that is necessary. Don't let pride keep you from asking for forgiveness if you are at fault. Especially if you have children, don't let this 'bulldozer' come rampaging across your family. 

©Edna L. Ingram