THE DIVORCE OPTION
Matthew 19:9-10
“ ‘And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.’ His disciples said to him ‘If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.’ ”
Jesus gave only one reason for divorce: sexual infidelity. This rules out all of the other reasons. From the response of the disciples, this teaching must have struck a chord. Did some of the disciples consider divorcing their wives, who might have been nagging them because they were gone all the time following an itinerant preacher? Ministry can be tough on a marriage and a family when the wife and husband do not share the same calling. It is said that the wife of John Wesley was very unhappy and would come and disrupt his evangelistic services. (He may have given her some cause by his attention to another woman.) The Apostle Paul wrote concerning this conflict. “I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress – that it is good for a man to remain as he is: Are you bound to wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife…..But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord – how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world – how he may please his wife” (I Corinthians 7:26-27, 32-33). Perhaps the disciples felt this pull in two directions – to follow Jesus and to be a husband – and thought it would be better to be single again so that they could better serve the Lord. But Jesus made them understand that divorce was not an option. Divorce only compounds the problem.
TODAY’S PRINCIPLE: Divorce is not an option except in the case of infidelity.
[end]
Have a "married" day. Love you.
No comments:
Post a Comment