A Call To Marriage

After a recent conversation with friends about wedding ceremonies it was brought to my attention just how little weight "Christian" or religious ceremonies have.  I have friends that come from mixed religious backgrounds and mixed levels of faith or different faiths than I have.  To sit and hear the arguments for and against getting married in a church or by a pastor was eye-opening.

For Jake and I, getting married by a pastor, in a church, before God and family, was the most important aspect of our wedding.  We believe that God is the driving force of our success and guide of our marriage and future yet, I couldn't sit there and tell my friends that believing in or involving God in your wedding day will make a difference on your future simply because statistics are not on my side.

So here it is, I want to challenge to my Christian married friends into a new way of thinking.  The divorce rate in the church is the same as the divorce rate outside of the church.  We as Christians are called to serve someone bigger than ourselves and fulfill a purpose greater than our own.  Shouldn't we bring that attitude of service and commitment first and foremost into our marriages?  

I know we hear talks on this stuff all of the time but my eyes were opened last night to a different perspective.  A raw perspective and a statistically valid perspective.  

Jake and I will be married three years this April.  We are not experts on marriage.  We are far from it.  But this conversation we had with friends made me realize just how important glorifying God in our success and failures will be going forward.  The only way to show others that God does have an impact and plays a vital role in our marriage is to show them.  To live out our commitment every day, in good and bad, so that the world can be witness to the power that God has.

I could have taken this conversation a few different ways but I am going to choose to take it as a challenge.  This conversation was a gift to Jake and me.  God has chosen to open our eyes to a very real epidemic occurring within the marriage community and in doing so has also called us to live out our lives in a way that speaks louder than any words could.

It is my prayer that Jake and I will commit to honoring God at all times, as husband and wife, as parents, as family members, as friends and members of our community.

Will you and your significant other commit to live this way also?  Will you step up and prove through actions, rather than words that God makes a difference in your marriage?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12