sponsored by:   and 

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Marriage

Send a link to a friend

[August 26, 2010]   --"Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators with adulterers."-Hebrews 13: 4

We have something of a marriage crisis in the United States these days.  According to the CDC, there were 7.1 newlyweds per 1,000 people in 2008, the most recent year available, and there were 3.5 divorcees per 1,000 people.  Another site, the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, puts the rate somewhere around 50% for first marriages, 67% for second marriages, and 74% for third marriages.  In any case, there are way too many divorces in our society these days.  And that is not what is supposed to happen.  I have lifted this passage from Hebrews 13, where it is embedded in a list of behaviors of which disciples of Jesus are expected to partake.  According to Hebrews we are supposed to show hospitality to strangers, remember those imprisoned, be free from the love of money (that one isn't going so well either), be content with what we have, and honor marriage!  That is the list. 

Now, I am sure you can think of the reasons divorce is on the rise in America, or at least the reasons according to the politicians and the media.  The alleged problem(s) is pre-marital sex, homosexuals, or women in the workplace.  While we can debate the relative merits of any of these behaviors/issues, I don't think any one has a lot to do with divorce in our society.  Nor do I think divorce is always bad.  I don't think I need to list the reasons one might get divorced for good cause, so I won't, but you know them.  No, the problems run far deeper than we would like to admit.  I am not going to elaborate further in this space, instead I will continue this line of thinking Sunday, but I want to leave you with what I think is the beginning of the problem as well as the solution, and it is back in the passage above, "let marriage be held in honor by all."  Ponder that.

.
 

 

Prayer:  Holy God, let me this day honor the gift of marriage.  Help me to build up all those who are married and to see marriage as an act of discipleship.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen

 

[text from file received from Phil Blackburn,

First Presbyterian Church]

 

< Recent articles

Back to top


 

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Teen Scene
Calendar | Letters to the Editor