God Didn't Tell Them to Get Married - Their Flesh Did

Someone in the family announces that a relative is getting married and the news is great until you meet the future marriage partner.  "Something just isn't right with that person..." you say to yourself.  But you don't want to be the one that looks bad if you were to tell someone how you truly feel about the union, so you keep things to yourself.  Then one day, as if someone in your circle is reading your thoughts, out comes, "God put them together..."  Sure.  Now your mind is really going at this point, did the person notice that you aren't sold out on the couple getting married?

As much as we would all like to think that every relationship that has led to marriage God had something to do with, we are wrong especially when neither party was even thinking about God, religion, faith or anything like it when they first met!  No, the couple had everything to do with the connection when they got naked one night and then many nights afterward.  Then they reasoned, "God is for us, who can be against us."  Even if someone was against the relationship, would it matter?  Sex has a way of clouding one's judgment.  The couple in La-La land thinks everything is rosy after many passionate moments in bed.

God is not one for ordering people to get married who are unequally yoked, but wayward, backsliding, hypocritical, and legalistic Christians are!  "You should get married...you better not wait...you need to get married..."  Some will mention it is better to marry then to burn with lust.  But what they fail to quote are all the scriptures that talk of listening and obeying God in the first place.  The issue isn't about going down the aisle in record time, but the real issue is, "Who is this person that he or she is marrying really?  Should this person even be in the family?  What is my loved ones reasons for really marrying?" 

Many couples are having an ear to God when they are planning their weddings.  Prior to, they are listening to pushy parents and other relatives who don't want to look bad not having sons and daughters married off.  Yes, there are still older parents and grandparents around who don't want the town to shame them or God hold them responsible for their sons and daughters not getting married--even if this isn't the case, but you can't tell them any differently.

"What God said" is thrown around loosely nowadays.  Going to church doesn't make one a good listener when it comes to doing the things of God.  Consider this, God is more concerned about kingdom business and if two people are willing to work together and with God to make some spiritual things manifest in others' lives, not just their own, then God bless their union.  However, with all the troubled marriages and divorces, this is just not the case.  Instead, we have many selfish individuals getting married, void of God, and hoping to capitalize off of one another--mentally, physically and spiritually in a way that doesn't serve anyone but themselves!  Then when the money is spent, attraction lost, and life challenges come into their La-La romance like a flood, now they are questioning, "Was God even in this?"  Most likely he wasn't, but your flesh was in it alright!  Whether one was married five, 10, or 15 plus years ago, the truth of the matter is not every marriage was ordained by God no matter how many times you repeated "under the eyes of God" or how often you attended church prior, during, and afterward.  It's unfortunate but the holiday season only pushes the deception like they do when it comes to Santa, Jesus' birth date, and Christmas being a time for giving. 

If you are a believer, use the holiday season to remind the lost couples in your family to turn their hearts toward God, rather than on things like:  how much money they spent on a gift, where they will be going for their honeymoon, and when they will be having children.  It is through Him they will find peace--everything else is added stress.

Nicholl McGuire also maintains a blog entitled, Laboring to Love an Abusive Mate