Original Entry:
August 15, 2011
McMinnville, OR
For this reason a man will leave his father and
mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
In the summer of 2011
I did seven weddings. All of these were
great young couples. All of them scored
high on their pre-marital tests. All of
them except one were professing Christians who attend church on a regular
basis. All of them were living together.
Rewind.
What!
All of them were living
together.
Statistically this is
a bad idea with an estimated 70 percent of cohabiting couples ending in
divorce, significantly higher then the 50% non-cohabiting couples. Morally this is tragic especially since six
of the seven couples profess Christ as their savior.
I saw performing the
pre-marital counseling and ceremony a wonderful ministry opportunity,
especially with the men. From my
experiences over summer I not only mandate premarital counseling, but a meeting
with the groom.
During theses
strategic moments I was able to share how a man’s example as a follower of
Jesus is compromised when a boy disguised in a man’s body chooses the low road.
Sex outside of the covenant of marriage is always the case with cohabitating
couples. It is the inevitable product when
a man and a woman who love each other choose the low road and live together
before marriage.
On several occasions
pious couples defend their faith, “Oh, we are living together but are not
having sex!”
Once I stop laughing
I tactfully confront this lie.
A boy leaves his father
and mother and is united to his girlfriend, and they become one flesh.
But a man waits. A man is patient. A man takes the high road. A man is not united with his wife until
he leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife through the covenant
of marriage. Anything less is adultery against God. Anything less is prostituting the gospel of
Jesus. Anything less makes the woman he
loves look poorly in the eyes of the church and public.
What man, what
Christian man, would allow the woman he loves to have her reputation tarnished because
he can’t wait?
A man never
would. A boy, now that is a different
matter.
