PROTECTING MARRIAGE OVER MINISTRY
by Dawn Sneden
It seems that the ideas of the world have filtered into the church again. With the latest news about a well-known Christian couple announcing their divorce ringing in my head, I can’t help but think of the latest mantra of the politicians in Washington: “My personal life has nothing to do with my service to the public.” What?! Apparently some of the public figures in Christianity today think many of us in the church have bought into this idea as well. The choices in our personal lives should have a lot to do with our public life, especially if that public life is found in Christian ministry.
Malachi 2:16 says that God hates divorce. Jesus said in Matthew 19:8 that Moses permitted divorce only because “your hearts were hard.” Neither of those passages has anything good to say about divorce. Ephesians 4:17-18 tells us not to live as the world does, because “…they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” If we in the leadership of the church can’t even keep our marriages together, what hope can we offer the world?
Now, I don’t know any of these well-known Christian figures personally and I don’t know the whole story. But I do know that marriage is forever and barring any clear, Biblical reason for divorce, it has no place in the heart of current public ministry. I know that many divorced people have gone on to do great things for God, but acting as though a divorce is just a brief blip on the radar screen of your ministry does not fit with Scripture.
If you are married and in ministry, your first priority needs to be the protection of your marriage. I don’t care how many people you touch everyday, or how much this person or that group needs you, if you don’t keep your marriage intact, the damage done by your public divorce will negate everything else you have done to further the Kingdom in the eyes of many people. Upon repentence, God’s love and forgiveness covers it all, but the devil wants to bring as much destruction to as many people as he can. Don’t let your marriage be used as a tool to discredit the people of God! Someone else can always preach that word you just had to preach, but no one else except you can be a wife to your husband.
Take a moment to ask your husband whether he sees your ministry taking priority over your marriage. It might be just the opening he needs to express his concern. If not, he will greatly appreciate your sensitivity to making sure your marriage takes priority over your ministry. Then thank him for his support and pledge together to never let your “public life” overtake your “personal life”.
