"We surveyed 100 people. The top 5 answers to this question are on the board. Name something that a husband and wife should have the same taste in?"
That was one of the questions host Steve Harvey asked today on Family Feud. Some of the winning answers included food, fashion and sex. One contestant said that a husband and wife should have the same taste in church. It wasn't on the board but I thought it was an excellent answer.
I should know. I am married to a spouse who does not hold the same view on church as I do. It wasn't always that way. When we got married 8 years ago my wife had made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. She was active with me in a couples Bible study and was growing into her understanding of her spiritual giftedness of service.
But something happened and she withdrew from her church and her faith. Now at times she can be quite hostile toward God. I don't completely comprehend her decision. As best I can relate she simply says she tried church and God for a season and it isn't for her.
That is really foreign territory for me. I grew up in the church. I accepted Christ at age 7 at church camp. All of my life I have sung hymns and given my tithe and participated in communion. And now the person that I have decided to share the rest of my life with, including all of these wonderful church things, has decided they are not for her.
In some ways I think my head is still spinning. But greater than the confusion I feel is the disappointment. In Genesis chapter 2 God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman.
He designed it. So He wants to be a part of it. For now at least, only I am interested in his partnership in our marriage.
But I don't think God has abandoned her or us. And let me make perfectly clear that I love my wife and have no desire or intention to abandon my marriage. The Bible, I believe, tells us not to marry unbelievers in 2 Corinthians 6:14a: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers."
So then did we sin when we got married? I don't think so. When we married we were both Christians practicing our faith. My wife's decision to walk away from God came later on. I didn't see it coming. I don't think she did either.
So the Bible's first piece of advice was not to marry an unbeliever. If, though, you are like me and find yourself in that position anyway, God has a second piece of advice.
1 Corinthians 7:12-14: “…If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband…”
That pretty much sums up where we are today. My son and I are active at church and in our Christian faith. We try to be a good example to my wife in hopes that she may one day return to a life of faith in Christ. Every night at bedtime my son prays "please help mommy to come to church." That's what we both want. That's what Christ wants as well. Maybe someday my wife will feel the same.
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