Luke 16:18 (ESV)
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “Everyone
who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
The section for today’s reading is only one verse, but boy it can
be a cold hard statement from Jesus. First of all, we need to realize that Jesus is speaking in this text and he is speaking about divorce. Divorce is running rampant in America, in both Christian and non-Christian homes. I don’t know
if you have been through a divorce, but the odds are as simple as a coin toss. It is about 50/50. Now Jesus makes the statement that if you divorce your wife and marry again... you are committing adultery. Jesus also states that if
you marry a woman who has been divorced, you commit adultery. I have heard from quite a few people that have said if they knew this, then they would not have gotten a divorce. Does God want you to divorce your current spouse so you can go back
to your first spouse? No, he wants you to take your current marriage serious. God intends marriage to be a permanent union. My advise is to fight for your marriage instead of fighting against it. Look at your marriage from a different
perspective... If you are not to remarry, then do you want to spend the rest of your life married or single? If you want to live as a married person, then fight for the marriage and make it work.
This is a tough statement. So if you have been divorced and remarried... Does that make me a sinner? The answer is yes. Well, this can be like a hit below the belt to someone who has remarried and they won’t want to hear this.
It hurts. Yes... but divorce hurts God too! But I need to ask a more fundamental question... Do you see yourself as a sinner? If the answer is yes, then your only hope is to trust in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection on the
cross for the forgiveness of your sins. You are a sinner just like me or anyone else. Jesus died for all sins of all people, even divorce. We do not use this as an excuse to divorce, but we can use it as an excuse to fight for our marriage.
I pray: O Lord, help me to fight for my marriage in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, and to take my wedding vows seriously and to honor my commitment to You and my spouse. Help me to
keep you and my commitment as my top priority. Forgive me and my spouse when we fight against each other instead of focusing on you. Amen.