"Leave"

I'm still thinking about marriage from our message on Sunday and our daily devotional readings as well. I'm struck by how the idea of a man leaving his mother and father is so all-encompassing. I mean it was to leave all of the options behind. If your marriage was "not working out" there would be no where else for you to turn. The only other option WAS the household of your parents.

In marriages today it seems all too many people "leave" their options open, instead of "leaving" all of the options behind. Oh, there's plenty of leaving going on these days. People "leave" their spouse left and right. And it's easy. Because we have so many options "left."

I think there would be a lot more healthy marriages today if the divorce laws were written differently. If it were the law that whoever chose to leave a marriage had to "leave" everything else behind as well (the house, the car, the kids, the car, the dog, the kitchen sink...), perhaps there would be more people working things out instead of "leaving."

I know, I know... there are situations in which life and health are at stake and someone should leave. But that's not irreconcilable differences. Irreconcilable differences is just an option "left" open.

Now, I don't mean to sound unsypathetic, because I am not. God heals people from divorce and restores them. But He hates divorce too. What I am trying to say loudly is that God did not intend marriage to be a partial or temporary option to be easily left when the going gets rough. God built marriage to be a life-long commitment in which every other option is left behind.

Don't leave for something better. Just be someone better.

Instead of looking for the right person... be the right person.

God loves you and He wants to save your marriage.