Airport Rationality

Malachi 2:16, “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce. . . .”

I was sitting in the airport coming home from a great conference in Charlotte, NC, which will be in some follow up blogs. While I was sitting there a man came and sat directly behind me and engaged in conversation with a young lady across from him. Unfortunately, I was able to hear his conversation, even though I tried to not listen. The man in his 50’s started talking about how he and his wife have been separated for a year and a half now and he was anxious to be done with the divorce. Without being asked he went on to tell her why. Now this is where it took all I had not to turn around and just smack the guy in the back of the head and tell him that he is an “Idiot.”

He tells the girl that he was throwing away 23 years of marriage because his wife did not want to move out of the house they currently lived in, because he wanted to move. Are you serious? All that came to my mind is, “What? You cannot be serious.” Of course then he moved into the same old adages of growing apart and different interests and that their lives were just not good together. “I do not feel in love anymore.” What a crock of crap!!!

Talk about a mid-life crisis. This guy found it necessary to rationalize, even after a year and a half, to a complete stranger why he was leaving his wife. Think there is guilt involved? Think he knows what he is doing is wrong? Why not work at growing back together as they had to when they were dating? It is not as if they met and then clicked at everything right away. Why not look at it as dating all over again and have some fun with it? Put some effort into wooing your spouse as we did when we were courting or dating. No, he wanted to run from responsibility and focus on himself, no matter the two children that would be affected for the rest of their lives. Age does not make a difference. It hurts the children no matter what age they are, whether it be 5 years old or 30 years old.

What I did not mention in this story is his faith, because in today’s society it does not seem to matter. Today there is just as much divorce in the church as there is in the secular world. Just as many dumb excuses are used by Christians as are used by secularists.

God hates divorce, because it is a covenant you made before Him. It is not a contract that can be broken if someone does not want to be in business anymore. You made the promise to God not to your spouse, so unless there are the issues Christ gives for divorce then there is no legitimate reason for it. Certainly not because she did not want to move into another house! When you break that covenant you made with God you are affecting every area of your life and those involved with you, and if you are a believer then you are affecting the church as a whole as we are all members of the body. Divorce makes the church sick and wounded, just as much as it wounds those close to you.

Matthew 5:31-32, “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”