“Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Singleness, marriage, and divorce are tough issues to talk about. They are emotional ones. Singleness is a difficult journey in and of itself. Cultural pressures to be sexually active regardless of marital status combined with pressures from the current culture of the church for everyone to be married and which suggest that singleness is a kind of second-class status make it even more difficult. Marriage opens us up to a level of intimacy that is often a lot scary and hard to maintain. Its “til-death-do-us-part” mantra is daunting, especially when you start it young. And, once again, culture puts all kinds of pressure on us to make it something entirely less sacred and permanent that it was designed to be. And, because of the intimacy of marriage, divorce is always messy. If the Scriptures are right in that the married couple becomes one flesh, a divorce for any reason is akin to amputating a part of our body, and not something small like a toe. It’s more like taking off an entire leg or arm. In other words, these are big issues. Read the rest…
