Defending Marriage By Demonstrating It

In Colossians 3, we see a guiding principle for our lives and our relationships:
17And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Then Paul moves into the dynamics of the marriage relationship:18Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

I think you can relate these two verses to the previous one, and be challenged to walk out our faith in front of our family.  Our homes can be incubators where we can effectively live out the principles of Scripture, where we demonstrate to our spouses and our children that we really love the Lord and desire to apply His principles.  There's a built-in accountability for our belief and corresponding behavior in the confines of the home.   And, as we apply God's truth and live it out inside the walls of our home, then we can testify to the greatness of God and His work in and through our families, to a culture that needs to see strong families, a tangible demonstration of God's love, communicating what His intended relationships look like.

The marriage relationship is powerful and a marriage based on the definition found in the Scriptures is a depiction of Christ and the church:
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,27that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Last night in Anaheim, California, a crowd of some 43,000 people witnessed the testimony of Phil Robertson, who is the "Duck Commander" of the company he founded, Duck Commander, manufacturing duck calls and calling on people to follow Christ.    As I shared on the show Friday, Duck Dynasty has the second-largest audience on cable television, and its programs will routinely outrank much of broadcast television.    In Auburn this past Saturday, two of Phil's sons, Si and Alan, spoke to a good crowd at the Auburn Arena as part of a benefit for East Alabama Youth for Christ.

On Friday, I read a piece from the Parents Television Council by its Senior Writer/Editor Christopher Glidemeister about the family-friendly elements of cable, as he pointed out that really 2 out of cable's top 20 shows were highly objectionable.   He has also written a piece called, "Why Hollywood Doesn't Get Duck Dynasty".  In it, he writes that "Duck Dynasty’s faith and family emphasis is key to its popularity."  He goes on to say:

The very things that make the Robertsons appealing to American viewers are the things Hollywood finds most abhorrent: a traditional family with a relatively conservative worldview rooted in a deeply-held faith. The program’s emphasis on faith – and the fact that the positive portrayal of religion is so rare on television — is the reason it remains unique, popular, and draws in viewers. But so great is Hollywood’s disdain for religion that, according to cast member and family patriarch Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty is heavily edited by A&E bosses to omit most religious content: “We can’t get into spiritual matters on the show too much..."

He goes on to highlight other shows that depict a traditional family that embraces religious values.  He points out that, "even when programs created by the industry itself reflect such values, they are ignored. Witness the case of the CBS drama Blue Bloods, a program about a close-knit family of Irish Catholics, all of whom are either police officers or are involved in the New York City justice system. Like Duck Dynasty’s Robertsons, the Blue Bloods’ fictional Reagan family is religious; the characters’ moral choices are clearly informed by their faith, and each episode includes a family dinner (before which the family prays), during which the members discuss how their morals should shape their reactions to their jobs, with all family members trying to “do the right thing.”

Blue Bloods has garnered little attention in the media or trade press, despite the fact that it averages 13 million viewers every week.  It has been relegated to the 9pm (CT) time slot on CBS, which is hardly a springboard to success; yet, it reportedly is in or near the top 10.

And then there's Christian actress Patricia Heaton's latest foray into prime-time television, The Middle.   Glidemeister points out that The Middle is successful because it mirrors the experience of most real-life families living in “the middle”: a Midwestern, lower-middle-class traditional nuclear family, with a strong father figure, a competent mother, and three children with wildly different personalities, all of whom have relatable worries and concerns like school problems, dating difficulties, trouble paying the bills, and a leaky roof. And while the program gives a humorous tilt to the Heck’s religion, at least the family is shown going to church.   By the way, watch for Patricia in the new Erwin Brothers film due out next year called, Moms' Night Out. 

The thread running through these 3 programs - the depiction of traditional marriage and the God-honoring values.  And, its refreshing to see these relationships depicted.  There is a frontal assault on marriage in our culture today, not just through same-sex marriage, which is getting really an overabundance of attention, but also through the forces such as adultery or even apathy that cause marriages to disintegrate.    More couples are choosing to cohabitate outside of marriage, which introduces a whole new set of issues for those couples who do go ahead and get married.    

The important truth is that God's way is best, and marriage is still a God-ordained entity that has numerous benefits and brings glory to Him.  It is a critical building block of society.  As I wrote in the current edition of River Region's Journey magazine:

Marriage is a God-ordained institution, and to be in a committed relationship predicated on love and respect for one another, recognizing that the Lord has joined the two parties together, gives a tremendous degree of satisfaction. A thriving marriage can encourage and support each of us, and provide a stable environment in which children can grow up. Our homes can be havens for security and habitations in which we can grow spiritually.

In a statement at the end of Stuart Shepard's commentary last Friday, I shared that I believe that it is incumbent on us as believers in God and traditional marriage to live that out before a culture that is hostile to it.   We have to work on our marriages to try to make them the very best they can be, and also recognize that a strong marriage speaks for itself.  I believe that deep down people want the love and stability that a marriage centered on Christ and rooted in His principles can bring.