Daily Devotions
Two Become One
Title: Two Become One
Reading for August 14: Jeremiah 31-32
Weekly reading for August 12-18: Matthew 15-19
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
Matthew 19:3-6
What is Jesus' answer to divorce?
It is, simply, don't do it. That's it. Don't divorce.
Why did Jesus give us such a narrow rule?
First of all, Jesus said that the two become one flesh. What does that mean? It means we are no longer individuals. We are one. To separate a union like this is to commit an act of violence against oneself (Mal 2:16). Ask anyone who has been through a divorce (even one they wanted) and they will tell you how violent (emotionally, spiritually, even physically) this act of divorce is.
But ultimately, Jesus gave this narrow rule concerning divorce because God is the One who joins us in marriage. He is the welder. He applies the superglue. Marriage is not something we do by ourselves. It is something God puts together. For that reason, Jesus says we simply don't have the right to undo it.
This background information on divorce is important, not just because it instructs as to what we should not do in divorce, but because of what it tells us we ought to do in marriage. Think of what these two principles mean to us in a positive way:
- Your spouse is a part of you! In marriage you are no longer an individual. You are part of a whole. Love your wife. Love your husband. It's the same as loving yourself (Eph 5:28).
- You and your spouse are connected together by God! We are to submit to one another in marriage "out of reverence for Christ" (Eph 5:22). He put us together. We should honor each other with the understanding that God is the glue of our marriage. To throw away our spouse is to disregard and dishonor God (by ignoring that Divinely instituted bond). To embrace and love our spouse is to fear and honor and worship the One who put us together.
Father, may we love our mates in humble recognition of our oneness in marriage and with the knowledge that it is you who made us one.
