So many of our decisions throughout the day are based on one question: “How will my choice make me feel?” That is definitely a legitimate concern. Who wants to make choices that will make a person feel horrible? And yet, we’ve all had the experience that there are times in life when we have to do something that causes us pain and suffering because there is a greater good that takes precedence over our feelings. For a person who is serious about going beyond the superficiality of feelings, the question “Is it true?” is much more important than “How does it make me feel?”.
The subject of marriage is a relevant case in point regarding the matter of feelings and truth. For the last 60 years feelings have been the driving force in many marriages. All too often, when desired feelings diminished or disappeared, the marriage ended. Over that same period of time, biblical teaching on marriage came under intense scrutiny and attack. Some, even in the church, decried the biblical model of marriage as at best, hopelessly outdated, and at worst, primitive.
The psychological and emotional carnage which millions have experienced in recent years due to failed marriages is a strong indication we owe it to ourselves to reevaluate the question of whether feelings or truth are most important when it comes to how we as human beings live out our marriages. For Christians, there is the powerful connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and everything that he taught. If Christ physically rose from the dead at a historical moment in human history, then he is God. And as God, what he tells us about any subject, even marriage, must be the truth.
But anyone knows, who is familiar with even a few events in the life of Jesus, that he did not come to coldly present the facts of life regardless of the consequences. Christ embodied compassion, sacrificial love, authentic concern – all the characteristics which make for a rewarding marriage that goes the distance. What he tells us about marriage may seem impractical to our modern ears. Yet, it very well could be just that, an impression. A closer study shows that not only what Jesus says about marriage is true, it also works. And who doesn’t want a marriage that works?
Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am
