The British Prime Minister has said that 'same sex 'marriage is to be 'accepted' practise in the UK, and that we should now address the problem of how to keep married couples TOGETHER! He is concerned with 'BROKEN' marriages, and their growing number. BUT does he have any chance of finding an answer, since it is obvious he does not regard the Word of God on which successful society is built.
I found this broken egg photo interesting! Mainly because of the fragility it demonstrates - but is it, or should it be used to demonstrate marriage? Marriage has become an 'institution' that in one way or another the 'christian' world (godly or otherwise) has followed. BUT not all marry in a RIGHT spirit, or for a right reason. My own 'parents' split up when I was ten years old. My dad was a heavy drinker, and physically abused my mum almost every night. He was the only bread winner, and he spent it all on booz. It was a difficult and unloving relationship. She finally got up one morning and left. She took me with her......Much later I was to write -
'My Mother often asked if I thought she had done right,
to leave her husband, and if I felt hurt because of it. She was always worried about it in her heart.
Then I would say to her that everything was alright -
and that God wanted her to be happy anyway.
ANYWAY? No, not anyway, not by ANY means.
But I had still to learn that.
Certainly God wants us all to be happy, BUT there is no real happiness apart from HIM;
outside of HIS Law of Love.
And my mother was never happy either.
HER marriage had lasted about 14 years. That 'eggshell' took a bit of cracking - but it did crack!
Recently I saw a marriage of 17 years crack open. The husband had been -maybe continues to be - unfaithful for many years. Suddenly the wife got up and left him, AND her three kids. What a mess - both say they are Christian, and that they had loved each other once, and meant their Wedding Vows as binding till death. Yet the ties that bound them did wear thin, and finally, at least for one of them, they snapped. In Kenya today this occurs more and more frequently - even within MONTHS of marriage. What IS wrong with our 'eggshells' - don't they have enough GRIT?
JESUS, the Messiah, said there was something of prime necessity that any follower, disciple of His needed to do. He or she needed to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS HE HAD LOVED THEM.
The Disciple has to LEARN how to LAY down his/her life for the other. MARRIAGE, I believe, is the crucible in which we LEARN about love and loving from God's point of view. OUTSIDE of marriage we may still have some licence to come and go in our human, general, relationships with each other - but NOT SO in marriage - in Marriage we BIND ourselves, in front of God and Man, to our partner - for life. We lay down our life, let go of its rights and privileges for the sake of the other.
THIS is NOT easy, humanly - it may not humanly even be possible! BUT WITH GOD, nothing is impossible - and SO, if Christ be IN us, then we may receive from HIM the power needed to lay down our lives - even as HE received power to lay His down for US -for me. and for YOU.
Men and Women are always full of excuses for themselves; what they allow, what they cannot bear, what they cannot give up! BUT none of mankind are created to do or be what they themselves determine; we are created to do God's Will. If I come to understand this, then GOD will and does give me POWER (in and through Jesus Christ) to achieve it.
I can be stubborn and insist on doing what I want - or I can submit to God and lay down what I want in order to do what HE wants. I learn this in Marriage, and can demonstrate it in Marriage.
'If a man would saves his life - or seeks to save it - he loses it, and destroys it.
BUT, if HE destroys his own life, gives it away, suffers the loss of it,
THEN HE WILL SAVE IT
This is the Law of the Kingdom of Heaven, and we are here and alive to LEARN it. Marriage is to be one of the ways we may learn about it. Esther and I will say of our own marriage relationship - it has not been easy; it has suffered hardship, sorrow, even hurtfulness along the way. BUT it has endured and lasted for the 42 years since it began, and NOW we can say truly, that we love each other more and more. Whilst that is true for us, then there is hope for the rest of the world. But it is founded on the ROCK of God's LIVING WORD,and in DOING what it says.
I am sure, if you read this, you will have many things come to mind (humanly) in the way of mitigating circumstances, and compassionate grounds, to argue the case for desertion, separation, DIVORCE. Moses was given a reason for permitting Divorce -but JESUS still put it clearly when HE said, that from the Beginning it was NOT meant to be like that. That it was because of the HARDNESS of Man's heart, that it was allowed. Yes it is always our human, self-righteous, unforgiving, HARD and unyielding heart/mind that causes us to DESERT and GIVE UP on each other. A clear indication that we have a deficiency in our diet......we are not TAKING in and DIGESTING God's direction for our lives. THIS is the 'grit' we need to make the 'egg shell' of our Marriage STRONG and ENDURING - the 'GRIT' of His Love, loving another through Jesus in us.
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NOTHING OF GREAT IMPORT to report or write about this week. The RAIN has returned - just as we were filling the swimming pool with water! The skies grey and overcast, and the temperature quite cool in the middle f60s - yes I know that WILL sound quite warm, but here at the Equator it can FEEL quite cold even. We are entering the Winter Season here now. Life, by His Grace and Care, has gone quietly and uneventfully on. We know His Eye is upon us, as it is upon the Sparrow.
We often feel as if we are in another world, here within our compound, and as we pursue the daily routine of our work and ministry. A small group of men and women, boys and girls barely noticed in the World at large. BUT Jesus is in our hearts and He walks and talks with us, as He does to others everywhere.
Well the building works have now ceased. I told you much earlier that is is the SCHOOL that has been building with the help of the Bank. Four new Classrooms for the Secondary School section of the School, with a new Library AND a hostel for 60 boarding students - all in one. THEN at the same time provision of a Standard size Swimming Pool which is hoped to be used by other schools as well as our own, since it the ONLY one still in working order in the whole district open for school's to use. It has all cost a packet of money, but it well supported and encouraged by the parents of the the children (not ours of course) that attend. Indeed School parents have once again this year renewed their determination to permit the Homes children (140 of them) to all attend the School FREE. We had built the school with this in mind, but we have always sought the good will and agreement of those sending children in from outside on a Fee Paying basis.
What next? Well maybe not much. On the School side they will seek no further expansion in the next decade. On the Homes side Repair and Maintenance and Refurbishment all demand constant attention, our daily bread being the main focus of our prayer. But, one day, we hope to renew Jacaranda Cottage which is full of defects and recurring material problems. The Lord knows, and He knows the future. Many of us feel time is running out.......We watch more intently now than ever before. We Watch and we pray............and we Thank God for what we are enabled to DO and for every young life we are able to reach and touch for the Kingdom of God.
The LORD, who will soon return, be with you all, and Thank you for your fellowship always.
John and Esther & Daryl and Carol
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