While riding my bike this morning a strange thought came to me. Why have we, as a society who likes to improve on everything, never improved our marriage vows? Ah, yes, we have changed them for certain, but are they improved?
Consider the old vows:
I,_____, take you_____, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; until death do us part.
Perhaps today we would prefer it to say:
I,_____, take you_____, to be my wife/husband, to have as wanted and hold when desired, for better but not worse, for richer but not if I must live below my standards, in health but not if I must care for you long-term, to be in love and have fun with; as long as it feels right to me.
Wouldn’t that more accurately reflect how we see marriage today? Are Christians any different considering our divorce rate is consistent with the rest of the world? As a modern society we are so caught up with marrying the person ‘we are in love with’ that the whole ‘commitment no matter what adversity happens’ has gone by the wayside. We stay together only as long as it ‘feels’ right to us. Is this real love? Funny, but I don’t see anywhere in the Bible it says to do what ‘feels’ right to us. We were just told to do right according to God’s Word. Jesus told us to love one another* not to ‘feel love toward one another’. The difference- one being an action not based on what we feel emotionally for another person. (Hmmm, something to think about...) That is a love which will last beyond our feelings of the moment.
*John A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. KJV (John )