Two Become One

Today's reading: Mark 9:30-49, 10:1-12

'But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”' - Mark 10:6-9 ESV

We would be hard-pressed to find anyone today who hasn't in some way been negatively affected by divorce. The hurt, pain, bitterness, and regret run deep through our culture. For many young people, it makes them hesitant to want to make a lifelong commitment. Isn't it better to simply live together first to see if this thing will work? No, that is not better. It is a fraudulent copy of the original.

Moses had given men and women permission to divorce, not because it was a valid option if things don't work out, but because their hearts had become hard. Hard-hearted people tend towards selfishness.

So, how do we lower the divorce rate? It is 40% for first-time marriages and only climbs from there: 60% for second-time and 80% for third-time. Rates actually hit an all-time low in 2020, but this was largely due to (again) fewer people getting married (those seeking a long-term commitment).

A Gallup poll in 1997 revealed the divorce rate among couples who prayed together daily: 1 in 1,153. This would give you a .008673% chance of divorce.

Marriage was the invention of God, so it should not surprise us that when we place him first in it, things go really well. I didn't say easy, but it is worth it.

Male. Female.

Leave parents and hold fast.

Two become one.

God does the joining.

Let's not do the separating.

This is a lifelong commitment worth fighting for.