21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Believers in Christ are called to live according to a high standard. But, we are not to be discouraged, because we have the presence of the Holy Spirit who goes with us to lead us and to empower us. We are called to live according to His Word and to demonstrate the character of a new person, a new creation in Christ Jesus with a new identify - and this transforms how we live and how we relate to one another. The power and presence of the indwelling Christ can energize our vertical walk with God and our horizontal walk with others.
We see this beautiful picture in Ephesians 5 depicting the relationship of Christ to His church and how it is to be demonstrated in the husband-wife relationship:
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that 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 week, another high-profile celebrity breakup was announced. It took place in Beverly Hills in a confab with TV critics, according to a USA Today story. That's right, Muppet legends Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog are splitting up. And, this in advance of the new Muppets TV series which launches soon - can you say publicity stunt?
But, on a more serious note, there is a fascination with who's seeing who, who is with whom, and who is no longer together. And, recently, there has been more to feed that appetite. As the article points out, there's Ben and Jen, Gwen and Gavin, Miranda and Blake, Reba and Narvel.
That would be Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, and Reba McIntyre and Narvel Blackstock. As the article points out:
Megan Daniels, of a matchmaking service called SelectiveSearch.com, is quoted as saying: "Celebrities are like real people but their lives move at an accelerated rate and on a bigger scale, played out publicly," adding, "That can really cause a lot of additional stress on a relationship, it can create a lot of tension and it can lead to a failing relationship." She also said that a "diversion of career paths" contributed to the Stefani/Rossdale split - hers was soaring, his was not.
Rob Shuter, host of a show on VH1, says that it may not be necessary but it's been proven that news consumers are interested in (meaning they will click on) stories about celebrities' major life events, such as love, weddings, babies, divorce and death. He adds, "Some percentage of the population takes great satisfaction in seeing 'perfect' celebrity couples breaking up. If your life is a mess, you can take satisfaction in watching, say, Gwyneth's divorce."
As the article states:
A piece that was written by Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family in 2004 and reprinted on the CitizenLink website in 2010 highlights the impact of no-fault divorce, which I believe is a contributing factor to the divorce culture that we find ourselves in. He writes:
And, a note on same-sex marriage: "If the essential 'as long as we both shall live' quality of marriage becomes optional, why not the 'husband and wife' part? Tinkering with the fundamentals of marriage begets more tinkering with fundamentals."
That leaves us with some challenges for our own lives. We do have to recognize where we have allowed the culture, and especially the media, to define our view of marriage. If we have an unhealthy fascination with the love lives of others, then perhaps that could desensitize us to the sanctity of our own marriages. We have to reject an appetite for gossip and refuse to allow the cultural attitudes to permeate our consciousness and affect the way we approach life and relationships.
Finally, it's important that we shore up our own marriages. And, teach those who are getting married the importance of building their relationships on a firm foundation, with a view of staying together. Marriage is a representation of Christ and the church, and just as we are joined to Him through an indelible bond, so God calls us to develop a mindset of permanence for our marriages.
+++++
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that 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 week, another high-profile celebrity breakup was announced. It took place in Beverly Hills in a confab with TV critics, according to a USA Today story. That's right, Muppet legends Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog are splitting up. And, this in advance of the new Muppets TV series which launches soon - can you say publicity stunt?
But, on a more serious note, there is a fascination with who's seeing who, who is with whom, and who is no longer together. And, recently, there has been more to feed that appetite. As the article points out, there's Ben and Jen, Gwen and Gavin, Miranda and Blake, Reba and Narvel.
That would be Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, and Reba McIntyre and Narvel Blackstock. As the article points out:
It seems long ago but it was only in March 2014 that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin attracted widespread notice and derision when they announced their "conscious uncoupling" after 10 years of marriage and two kids. The separation didn't result in an actual legal divorce until April of this year.
Just in the first half of 2015, we saw the parting of the ways for Hillary Duff and Mike Comrie (five years of marriage); Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon (their third divorce from each other and a total of about a year of actual wedded bliss); Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams (nearly six years); and Patrick Dempsey and Jillian Fink (15 years).Meanwhile, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who have been dogged by divorce rumors, took to social media to state to the world (again!) that they were not breaking up.
Megan Daniels, of a matchmaking service called SelectiveSearch.com, is quoted as saying: "Celebrities are like real people but their lives move at an accelerated rate and on a bigger scale, played out publicly," adding, "That can really cause a lot of additional stress on a relationship, it can create a lot of tension and it can lead to a failing relationship." She also said that a "diversion of career paths" contributed to the Stefani/Rossdale split - hers was soaring, his was not.
Rob Shuter, host of a show on VH1, says that it may not be necessary but it's been proven that news consumers are interested in (meaning they will click on) stories about celebrities' major life events, such as love, weddings, babies, divorce and death. He adds, "Some percentage of the population takes great satisfaction in seeing 'perfect' celebrity couples breaking up. If your life is a mess, you can take satisfaction in watching, say, Gwyneth's divorce."
As the article states:
So human nature — our love of gossip — is ramped up to a fare-thee-well thanks to the speed and ubiquity of today's media. We were just as interested in the 1960s in Elizabeth Taylor's marriages and divorces; we just didn't have the means to share as widely and as quickly back then.So, there is a fascination with celebrity lives, celebrity couples are not modeling the admirable act of staying together, and we now have swirling around us a divorce culture, glorifying what God has said that He disapproves of. And, as I contended on the radio show last week, I believe that couples sometimes don't go into marriage with the intent of staying together, no matter what. And, when the tough times come, they are not prepared and allow their marriage to dissolve, which brings pain along with it.
A piece that was written by Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family in 2004 and reprinted on the CitizenLink website in 2010 highlights the impact of no-fault divorce, which I believe is a contributing factor to the divorce culture that we find ourselves in. He writes:
It was 1969 when California’s first actor-turned-politician, Ronald Reagan, enacted the world’s first no-fault divorce law, dismissing the essential “till death do us part” part of marriage with the wisp of a pen. California redefined marriage, transforming it legally from a meaningful, binding contract to a mere arrangement.The indictment continues:
No-fault divorce subjected an entire generation of children and their parents to a massive, untested social experiment fueled by adult wish fulfillment. We entered this experiment with no idea of how it would turn out. We bolstered ourselves with hopeful assumptions that if adults could easily exchange bad marriages for good, we would have happier, more self-actualized adults who would parent happier, more self-actualized children. Love would see us through. It was all so I’m OK; You’re OK and like disco and leisure suits, it seemed like a good idea at the time.He outlined the negative effects on adults and their children. Large numbers of adults are, as Stanton says, "less secure, experiencing failing physical and mental health, unable to put their lives back together, entering affairs and cohabiting relationships that are just as troubled — if not more so — as the newly disposed of marriage. Domestic violence increased dramatically. Some entered new marriages that broke up faster and as tragically as the previous one. Happiness was elusive." And as for the children, they "fared even worse. Many saw the innocence of childhood evaporate the day their parents announced the divorce. Others described being “scarred for life.” They told countless stories of being crippled by anxiety, possessed by anger, disoriented by confusion and immobilized by fear of total abandonment. Their behavior, grades and physical and mental health plummeted."
And, a note on same-sex marriage: "If the essential 'as long as we both shall live' quality of marriage becomes optional, why not the 'husband and wife' part? Tinkering with the fundamentals of marriage begets more tinkering with fundamentals."
That leaves us with some challenges for our own lives. We do have to recognize where we have allowed the culture, and especially the media, to define our view of marriage. If we have an unhealthy fascination with the love lives of others, then perhaps that could desensitize us to the sanctity of our own marriages. We have to reject an appetite for gossip and refuse to allow the cultural attitudes to permeate our consciousness and affect the way we approach life and relationships.
Finally, it's important that we shore up our own marriages. And, teach those who are getting married the importance of building their relationships on a firm foundation, with a view of staying together. Marriage is a representation of Christ and the church, and just as we are joined to Him through an indelible bond, so God calls us to develop a mindset of permanence for our marriages.
No comments:
Post a Comment