MARRIAGE MATTERS
The Supreme Court will hear arguments this Tuesday about whether states can legally choose to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It is a defining moment in our nation's history. I have spoken and written why marriage defined as the union of one man and woman matters as a social construct. But beyond that we as Christians need to pray because marriage is not just another culture war issue.
We know that it is not possible for our government to actually redefine what God has defined from eternity. Marriage is about more than a license registered at a courthouse. Marriage is about the common good and the benefit of society, but is also the symbol of the union between Christ and his Church (Ephesians 5:22-32). Without a Christian vision of marriage we have no appropriate vision of the gospel.
As believers we need to pray that normative marriage will not be treated as if it were an institution of a bygone era standing in the way of supposed progress. And we must pray and ask God to give us wisdom to be able to spell out with conviction why marriage matters, in light of who we are as men and women and in light of the mystery of Christ and his Church.
We also need to pray that Jesus would overcome what we've allowed our own marriages and families to fall into. As I spoke about in my 5 Shades series cultural influences on marriage have been disastrous. With adultery, pornography and divorce running rampant in our churches, how did we fail to see that we were outsourcing our marriages and our families to culture?
But most of all we must pray regardless of whether our land's highest court recognizes the unchangeable or not, we will stay faithful. We must love others enough to speak both grace and truth. We must follow Jesus who was neither shocked by the Samaritan woman's sexual sin nor afraid to speak a word of repentance. We can have an unashamed assessment of sin and an unrestrained invitation to come to Jesus.
The stakes are high. The price of getting marriage wrong is costly and like the rest of this cultural revolution children will suffer the most. It matters tremendously to our nation and to future generations that we agree with God. Let's pray that the Court gets it right and recognizes that government did not create the family and cannot recreate it. And imagine if in spite of the predictions the Court decided to keep marriage as it has always been. All would know then the incredible power of prayer!
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