Thoughts From the Bible

  Luke 16:18-  "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery. " In the midst of talking to the Pharisees, Jesus shifts gears and simply confronts the issue of divorce. He does this in one verse. Divorce is a regular part of our society. This topic can take hours to discuss and look at all of the reasons why approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce.   What I am taking away from what Jesus is giving us in this verse is that we need to be more dilig ent when it comes to entering into marriage. We need to accept this relationship as a covenant, not a relationship contract that can easily be dismissed. We need to focus on how God envisioned marriage as an institution of strength between a man and a woman. Our commitment must be complete .        Proverbs 15: 24- The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below.  

Read Mark 10: 2- 12-   The Pharisees were intent on catching Jesus in something wrong. They were working to discredit Him so the growing fo llowers of Jesus would abandon Him. In this  passage,  they chose a law  established  by Moses, divorce. This was a very paternal  society,  and th e law reflected the advantage men had over women in the society. The Ten Commandments were  well known by the people and Jesus and Jesus referred to this while speaking with His disciples.  First Jesus said this in  verses 8 and 9,  “(8) and the two shall  become  one flesh;  so,  then they are no longer two, but one flesh. (9) Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”  Jesus then provided the disciples with more impactful words. In verses 11 and 12, Jesus says,  ‘(11) So He said to the, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries ano ther commits adultery. (12) And if a woman divorces her husband and ma...

Read Matthew 19: 10- 12-   Marriage requir es commitment. There are tho se who cannot commit to not only another person but to other things in life too.  Jesus knew this and noted there are some people who do not need to be married but as we see in our soc iety, those people are in the minority.  Verses 10 and 11 say,  ‘The disciples aid to Him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But He said to them, “Not everyone can  receive  this saying, but only those to whom it is given.’   Our society does not have problems with divorce as an act. Those who have suffered divorce  typically are the ones who  would argue that divorce is a problem.  This is why we need to have better understanding of marriage and commitment and entrust Jesus with our marriages  in the beginning.  This is such a big  subject,  but the basis is commitment.  

Matthew 5: 31-32- “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Our society has normalized divorce. Recent statistics show half of marriages  end in divorce. Jesus showed when divorce was appropriate . This topic can get to be very complicate d . There are so many things that can figure into considering divorce and the more I think about the topic the more I find myself drawn to the action of praying for individuals who are considering divorce or are in the process of divorce so they will hopefully be influenced by the Holy Spirit through the situation. There can be so much involved in divorce, I would want the Holy Spirit to direct and comfort as much as allowed to be able to see Him in the resolution.