Well, dear Golden Years Sister ~ Your terrible temptation has certainly kept my prayer life active this week. As promised, I prayed for you and yours all this week; and God had plenty to say in return. I hope you won't turn a hardened heart to His responses but will come to see that He is "secretly plotting for your good" if you will only lean to His understanding and run from your own.
For the rest of you, please know that my sister is wrestling with the ultimate moral issue of our generation . . . Divorce. The enemy has certainly found a highly successful secret path to sin in the one area our Savior treasures most. How would I know that? Because in His tender Word, He tells me that my earthly marriage is the mirror of His to me -- and a model of His devotion to His church family. How Satan must gloat to God that marital commitment among spouses in His own family is just as dim and marred and broken as that of spouses who are not yet part of His family. How Jesus must grieve to see nearly half of His family torn apart each year one household at a time.
As I was praying for my Sister and her unbelieving spouse of 30 some years this week, pastors on every radio station and through every devotional were speaking directly to the heart of this highly rationalized sin of entitlement, of disobedience, of bitterness and unforgiveness.
Divorce -- the abortion of mature emotional, spiritual, and physical union -- is the Valley of Tears that truly reveals for us and in us everything for which God allows us to endure a trial. It reveals my true love (me). It reveals my true faith (weak). It reveals what I truly believe about the Power of my Commander in Chief and His WORD. (inneffective). It reveals my own spiritual strength (weak and unwilling to exercise). It reveals my true motives (self-ish) and my perspective (temporal). Feel free to add to these from your own testimony . . . These are just mine. These revelations are especially grim when viewed from the mountaintop of our spoiled-rotten American culture, which gives us permission to indulge in all of these carnal attitudes of the heart.
What CAN we do to resist the temptation to leave our lawfully and spiritually wedded spouse, especially if they appear to be at best indifferent to us and to the ministry of marriage. If the battle is won in the mind and in the heart; then we must, dear Christian Sister, give our minds and hearts over whole heartedly to the Holy Spirit of God.
Here, in that humble place, softened by the Love and Mercy of God where we bend our knee and our will, we are reminded to "think on these things . . . " Do you know what they are? Do you know what they aren't? Here we may be asked, "What if this is the only ministry I give you while you are here?" "What if this is the one thing I wanted you to do well for Me?" "What will be your testimony of this trial for others?"
Wherever you find yourself on this painful path today, Dear Sister (and Brother), I promise you there is no rainbow or relief when you reach the end of Divorce Drive. It is the DEAD end of all dead ends. God has paved no blessings into this boulevard. Mercy, forgiveness, and regret may be the best from God that you get.
What's the worse that could happen, dear Sister, if you devote yourself for this lifetime as you promised to someone you already once cared for and whose only heaven may be right here on earth? That you might leave this moment of a life without a lovely romantic memory? Will you really pursue that sentimental mirage only to lose an eternity of, "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant?"
For the rest of you, please know that my sister is wrestling with the ultimate moral issue of our generation . . . Divorce. The enemy has certainly found a highly successful secret path to sin in the one area our Savior treasures most. How would I know that? Because in His tender Word, He tells me that my earthly marriage is the mirror of His to me -- and a model of His devotion to His church family. How Satan must gloat to God that marital commitment among spouses in His own family is just as dim and marred and broken as that of spouses who are not yet part of His family. How Jesus must grieve to see nearly half of His family torn apart each year one household at a time.
As I was praying for my Sister and her unbelieving spouse of 30
Divorce -- the abortion of mature emotional, spiritual, and physical union -- is the Valley of Tears that truly reveals for us and in us everything for which God allows us to endure a trial. It reveals my true love (me). It reveals my true faith (weak). It reveals what I truly believe about the Power of my Commander in Chief and His WORD. (inneffective). It reveals my own spiritual strength (weak and unwilling to exercise). It reveals my true motives (self-ish) and my perspective (temporal). Feel free to add to these from your own testimony . . . These are just mine. These revelations are especially grim when viewed from the mountaintop of our spoiled-rotten American culture, which gives us permission to indulge in all of these carnal attitudes of the heart.
What CAN we do to resist the temptation to leave our lawfully and spiritually wedded spouse, especially if they appear to be at best indifferent to us and to the ministry of marriage. If the battle is won in the mind and in the heart; then we must, dear Christian Sister, give our minds and hearts over whole heartedly to the Holy Spirit of God.
Here, in that humble place, softened by the Love and Mercy of God where we bend our knee and our will, we are reminded to "think on these things . . . " Do you know what they are? Do you know what they aren't? Here we may be asked, "What if this is the only ministry I give you while you are here?" "What if this is the one thing I wanted you to do well for Me?" "What will be your testimony of this trial for others?"
Wherever you find yourself on this painful path today, Dear Sister (and Brother), I promise you there is no rainbow or relief when you reach the end of Divorce Drive. It is the DEAD end of all dead ends. God has paved no blessings into this boulevard. Mercy, forgiveness, and regret may be the best from God that you get.
What's the worse that could happen, dear Sister, if you devote yourself for this lifetime as you promised to someone you already once cared for and whose only heaven may be right here on earth? That you might leave this moment of a life without a lovely romantic memory? Will you really pursue that sentimental mirage only to lose an eternity of, "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant?"
