Stay There!

‘And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery – unless his wife has been unfaithful’ Matt.19:9.

You know what they did back in the day? If they marry a wife and discover that the woman has a bad odor, they will divorce her. Just like that! Jesus says, ‘I am changing all that  – stay there!’ [translated]. Perhaps both of you have what has been termed ‘irreconcilable differences’ and have both decided to go in different directions. Jesus says, ‘there is nothing like that – stay there!’ Some men say their wife is rude and disrespectful. Jesus says –stay there! After hearing all that Jesus had said, the disciples decided that ‘it is better not to be married’. I know a woman who says to her husband ‘sit down there my friend’ and the man just goes and sits quietly. If that kind of man comes to say he wants a divorce because his wife is bullying him, Jesus’ response is – stay there! I know a pastor friend who said that he is convinced that except you are married you do not even know what it is to be a Christian. You do not know what patience is until you are married. You do not know what long suffering is until you are married. And he says that as for him, he is just waiting for rapture. May this not be your story; may you not merely endure your marriage. What baffles me the most is that two people who have the unique opportunity of making their lives the happiest on earth, decide to make their lives the most miserable on earth. I said to my wife, ‘it’s just us, so let’s enjoy this marriage’. She will offend me and I am pretty sure I will do the same but we have made up our minds for total enjoyment. There is no way out anyway.

Unfortunately some of us are waiting for our partners to be perfect before we release ourselves and begin to love them. You will wait till forever because your partner will never be perfect – in the real sense of being perfect. Jesus says ‘stay there!’ The world has made divorce look like it is just a normal thing so much so they now have ‘happy divorce’ greeting cards. So you can easily hand it out to friends going through a divorce. Jesus is saying that it was not so from the beginning, what God has joined together let no man put asunder.

Prayer: Father, help us to enjoy and not just endure our marriage. Help us learn to truly love and give ourselves to each other Father, in Jesus Name.