Love & Marriage

An old song, sung by many years ago (Frank Sinatra?), was called "Love and Marriage". The lyrics began:
  "Love and marriage,
    love and marriage,
    go together like a horse and carriage..."
It was a nice song with a good message.


 That message seems to be lost to many in the present generation. They want love, but not marriage. But romantic love between a man and a woman was meant to lead to marriage; and home, and children, and family. Love without the commitment of marriage is self-centered. You want to be loved and cared for. You want a steady sex partner. You want someone to meet your needs. Marriage is other-centered. You want to love and care for your spouse. You want to give sexual pleasure to your spouse. You want to provide for the needs of your spouse. You want to join together with your spouse to bring children into your union; to form a family.
  Without commitment love fades when tough times come. Without commitment hearts get broken. (Yes; hearts get broken through divorce as well, but people are more likely to stay together is they've committed to marriage.) Without commitment children suffer and are damaged mentally and emotionally. Without commitment there is no true love, just a nice feeling for awhile.
  God created men and women to compliment each other. Women bring out the best in men and men fulfill many of the needs of women. Without men there would be no women and without women there would be no men! They were meant to "go together like a horse and carriage." Neither is greater or more important than the other.
  In my church they often have renewing of wedding vows for couples married 10, 25 or even 50 years. It always brings tears to my eyes when they get to the part of the ceremony when the presider says that no one but the couple knows the joys, sorrows or trials they have experienced in the years of their marriage. They stayed together "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health." The witness of their marriage is an encouragement to all--those married and those not yet married.
  If more couples married and stayed married, the world would be a better place. Many of the problems our society suffers from would be eliminated. Children would be healthier mentally, physically and psychologically. Reputable sociological research attests to that.
  So let's do whatever we can to encourage young people to marry; to help young people make good choices in deciding who to marry; to support those already married; to honor the institution of marriage. In the end we all benefit. 

Analogy of Prayer

Some may say, "God can do everything. If He wants to do something, He doesn't need us to ask Him." That is true. God can also create a human being inside a woman. But he chooses to create a person through the actions of two people. He chooses to use human instruments to accomplish His purposes. In the same way He uses the prayers of people.


I give you my word, if you are ready to believe that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, it shall be done for you.  Mark 11:24

Apart from God

The following is a quote from C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite spiritual writers.


  "...Well, the moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first--wanting to be the center--wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that's a mistake. What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could "be like gods"--could set up on their own as if they had created themselves--be their own masters--invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
  The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it won't run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There isn't any other. That's why it's just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God can't give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it isn't there. There's no such thing."


I like this quote because it's a good response to atheism (C.S. Lewis was an atheist before he converted to Christianity) and to those who consider themselves "spiritual" without adhering to any Christian denomination, those who want a religion according to their beliefs. As another great spiritual writer said: "Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in You."  St. Augustine