More About Divorce in the Church

We can quickly become complacent in our Christian walk and in our marriage.  The conditions of our spirituality and our marriage relationship usually parallel each other. When one is in trouble, the other suffers too.  Rick always tells couples that when there are problems in their marriage, they should first analyze their vertical relationship with God.  There is a powerful connection there.

We as Christians have programmed ourselves to “turn everything over to God”.  Now, I’ll be the first to tell you how wonderful it is to do that, BUT, we also need to take action when doing so.  We can’t just profess our faith and then sit back and do nothing.  That seems to be a common issue keeping many Christian couples from a healthy relationship.

James 2:15-17 says, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

As Christians, we often take our cares to God in prayer and then make no effort to make the human changes necessary for God to answer our prayers.  If you have a drinking problem and are asking God to deliver you from it, you shouldn’t be hanging out with friends who drink.  If you’re praying that God supplies a better paying job for your husband, maybe you shouldn’t continue to charge purchases on a credit card you can’t pay off every month.

One husband’s response to his wife’s pleas to seek help in their marriage was, “Ah don’t worry about it.  God will take care of it.”  Many Christians have a false sense of security in believing they only have to pray to God for a problem to be solved.  They have faith but take no action. We hinder our prayers to Him by continuing to walk our own path or by choosing not to walk at all.

In Revelation 3:1-3, Jesus is speaking to the church in Sardis.  “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.  But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”

The first verse explains today’s church to me.  “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Many church-going Christians go to church in their masks and pretend to be alive in the Spirit with their words and their prayers and their outward worship.  In spite of this, a lot of them are spiritually dead and dragging a dead marriage beside them.

I heard one spouse use Bible verses as a weapon against his wife to “show her” what her problems were.  He believed his Bible knowledge surpassed his need to work at his marriage.  Knowing the word and praying to God does not heal marriages.

If you were walking blindfolded on top of a roof, would you assume that God would keep you from falling off the edge?  No!  You wouldn’t!  We as Christians sometimes keep our blindfolds on, expecting God to do it all.  We need to look for the path (with our own eyes) He has planned for us and walk it out (with our own feet).  Please, stay away from the edge though.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised if the divorce rate is higher in the church.