Monday, October 22, 2018
Happily Even After
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (
J. Paul Getty, one of the wealthiest men who ever lived, once said that he would gladly give all his millions for just one lasting marital success. But is a happy marriage even possible in our culture today?
The divorce rate is around 50 percent, more or less. That rises for second marriages, which fail at a rate of 60 percent. For third marriages, the rate goes up to 73 percent. I haven’t been divorced, but I’ve seen it up close. My mother was married and divorced seven times. I know about the devastation of divorce, and I want to do everything I can to encourage married couples to honor their commitment for a lifetime.
A survey conducted among Millennials found that 43 percent would support what they call a beta marriage model, which means testing the relationship for two years before deciding whether to commit to it or dissolve it. And 36 percent of the Millennials backed the real estate marriage model in which couples would commit to a set period of time, ranging from five to thirty years. At the end of that time they would renegotiate if they wanted to remain married.
Here’s why the real estate and beta models are not going to work. Studies show that those who live together before marriage have a far higher divorce rate than those who don’t live together. In fact, couples who live together are losing out in 85 percent of their marriages. So if you want to set up your marriage for failure, then live together.
Better yet, try God’s model, which is a lifelong commitment. I wish we could strike the word divorce from our vocabularies. If you’re going to go into marriage thinking that you’ll get out of it eventually, then don’t get married. Stay single instead.
Copyright © 2018 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
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