Standing before the minister on that beautiful day, the young man heard the words:

“…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do we part:” 

The answer was easy and expected – “I do!” With that confirmation, that young man declared before all those present, but more importantly before God, that he would ALWAYS honor the biblical concept of marriage.

This is not about statistics around marriage and divorce; no statistics will be mentioned. It does have everything to do with promise!

Husbands, we sometimes forget the definition of promise. We fail to understand the covenant that we make before our Creator, a covenant that the heavens do not take lightly. God is about covenant relationships; we see early on in the garden God made a covenant with man. The man could have free reign of the garden and eat the fruit of any tree except that of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen.2:16-17). The man broke this covenant with God by giving in to the temptation placed before him. Man’s will versus God’s will. That is how it has always been; man’s selfish will versus God’s divine will. 

We scream it from the highest heights, “I will not conform!” Yet every day of life is a life of conformity. Either we conform to our selfish desires, and that of the world or humbly submit and conform to God’s will and desire for us.

Men, this is where we need to get better at our marriages. We husbands need to be men that are always conforming to the will of God. When you have two people, A man and woman, united in the holy bonds of marriage, facing the world every day with a common goal of how can I help the two of us grow closer to God, you will see a successful marriage. Please understand me, it will not be without obstacles, problems, heartaches, and hurts, but it will be successful if God is at the center. When divorce does happen, it is because one or both have left the Lord.

The apostle Paul gives some advice to husbands and wives in his writing in Ephesians the fifth chapter. He opens the chapter with a command: “Be ye, therefore, imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” (Eph.5:1-2)

It is a high calling to imitate God and to walk in love after the measure of Christ. Paul writes that our actions, our attitudes, betray the heart’s true condition. (Eph.5:3-4) We must be as distinct from the world as light is from the darkness. Whatever is unfruitful; whatever we blush to have transcribed and read to the world; whatever would be inconsistent with the intense, clear light of the throne of God must be avoided. We must walk in the light of the Lord. Then we shall shine brightly, as diamonds do after being held in the sunshine. Once we have our hearts cleansed and renewed, we can begin the journey of a lifetime as honorable husbands.