SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2023 9:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Appropriation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 19:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 The disciples said
to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is
better not to marry." 11 But He said to them, "Not all men can
accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 “For
there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there
are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able
to accept this, let him accept it.’”
In his commentary on this section of
Scripture John MacArthur talks about what and what is not the basis of a sound
marriage. He says that romance, although
a part of a good marriage is not the main thing that will keep a marriage
strong as feelings like this are subject to change. He writes “A sound marriage is based on
permanent, unconditional commitment to one’s spouse, even if romantic feelings
flicker or are extinguished altogether.
If romantic feelings are the basis of a marriage, when a spouse begins
to lose attractiveness, the other’s attention is turned to someone else who
seems more promising and exciting. When
one romantic fling after another is pursued, emotional burnout is inevitable. Such a superficial relationship cannot last
long and never achieves the expected fulfillment. Each successive failure brings less
satisfaction and more disappointment, disillusionment, and emptiness. The collective result, as seen so
dramatically and tragically in modern society, is a generation of disoriented,
lonely, isolated untrustworthy, untrusting, and emotionally bankrupt misfits
looking for the next arousing sensation.”
There is a story in MacArthur’s
sermon on these verses about marriage that is too good to pass up and so I must
share it with those who will read this Spiritual Diary.
"Some years ago I heard the story of an elderly minister who had been married for fifty years. One morning at breakfast his wife slumped over the table, unconscious. By the time her husband got her to the hospital she was dead. After the funeral he said to his sons, "This is a good day, a wonderful day.' When they asked what he meant, he explained, 'Well, I know she is with the Lord now. And I am glad she went first. That's the way I wanted it to be, because I didn't want her to have the grief of burying me and of having to live alone.
"Some years later that minister was asked to speak at a feminist meeting on the subject of marriage. He recounted his wife's death and his gratitude that she had died first. 'Listen,' he told them, 'anybody who knows the meaning of true love always wants the other person to go first, because they don't want them to endure the pain and the sorrow and the anxiety and loneliness of burying the one they've loved. I daresay, that the modern romantic relationships that try to pass for love are a far cry from that kind of feeling and that kind of reality.' He was right."
2/20/2023 10:06 AM
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