Joel M Bradshaw

 6“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,  8and the two will become one flesh.’  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”–Mark 10

CULTURE: The original divorce laws (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) were written to protect women from being taken advantage of in a patriarchal world. A man could divorce his wife for any reason and she would be left vulnerable to manipulation or abuse. God protected those women.

PAST: You may have a divorce in your past. In my world as a biblical counselor, I have noticed that every divorce is between two people who have sinned against each other. Sometimes there has been betrayal. Other times abuse or abandonment. Some of you have been victims and others villains in your divorce. Or maybe you were a combination of both. Is there any sin in your past that you can own? Have you addressed that sin with God and with the one you sinned against? Is reconciliation possible?

One more point here: your past is your past. It is not your present. It does not forever define you. Repent of any sinful selfishness, turn to Jesus for forgiveness and move forward with that Gospel hope. Your past can be forgiven!

PRESENT: If I understand the thrust of Jesus’ words here on divorce, be faithful to your spouse in your present. Do not seek selfishness or manipulation like the divorces of old. The vulnerable and abused are still protected. With Christians, divorce should be a last resort after all other options have been exhausted. I meet with couples who sometimes claim “irreconcilable differences,” and yet some of them simply just don’t want to fight for their marriage. Never run towards divorce. I always challenge one spouse (the villain) to own his or her sin, ask for forgiveness of the other (the victim), and get help with accountability. The room changes when that happens! The Gospel goes to work in the Christian marriage.–JMB