Sunday our pastor preached a sermon on divorce and remarriage from Mark 10:1-12. Preaching expositorily through the book of Mark, he arrived at this point Sunday. This is the great thing about expositional teaching. We move with scripture and preach what is there when we get there.
I know this was not an easy topic for him; I am married to his mother who, along with me, experienced divorce. To say the least, we are sensitive about it and it has forever changed and marked our lives. It is the unavoidable legacy of divorce.
I am remarried and happily. I felt there was freedom and grace from scripture to move forward with my life; still I grieved my divorce and continue to grieve it. It has impacted all of us in our family and in my wife's family as well. We hate divorce. We are saddened that it touched our lives.
But I am grateful for grace--grace that allows us to begin anew, and to know God's forgiveness and healing. Twenty years later I remain committed to the permanence of marriage, the horror of divorce and the hard work that preserving and protecting a marriage requires. That is a part of the legacy of divorce.
I am grateful for a stepson who teaches the Word clearly, and without compromise. These may not be welcome words for a "casual divorce" culture--within and outside the church--but it is the unchanging Word of God. It is written, I believe, to save us from the painful legacy of divorce.
Amen!
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