The Death of Marriage

I am not angry. I am not bitter. I am not fearful. I am not surprised.

What I am is sad and broken. I am in mourning.

Why? Because marriage died last week.

But she didn't die of a heart attack. She wasn't suddenly hit by a SUV with 5 people inside. She had been dying for a while. She was ravaged by many illnesses. Selfishness. Independence. Entitlement. Careers. Divorce. Adultery. Pornography. Media. But the worst was the slow loss of purpose. This was the cancer that had spread to her bones. By the time many of us thought to try and help, she was failing too quickly. Some of us visited marriage in the hospital. We saw her failing health. We even held her hand sometimes. We watched her waste away before our eyes. We saw her purpose for being finally stripped away and then they pulled the plug...and she died. Right there. In front of our eyes. She died.

I am broken with grief. I am so very sorry that I didn't see it earlier and do more...because I could have. I could have helped her. I could have done a lot of things, but I didn't. Not really. What happened to marriage is my fault. It is the Church of Jesus' fault. It is not our culture's fault. We are to blame.

To all of America and even the world, I am deeply sorry. We have failed you. And though you may not yet realize it, pain is coming. Pain like you have never felt before. Pain that could have been prevented but will now ravage our country. What will be propped up and called marriage will look good on the outside but will not satisfy you. It will promise you wonders that marriage could have never fulfilled but will leave you even emptier than marriage did even as she was dying. It will do so because the true purpose of marriage is not to be found within ourselves.

And marriage? True, healthy marriage isn't about you. At all.

That is why she died. No one defended her from the attacks of selfishness, self centered-ness, and self determination. No one reminded her of her purpose. No one explained to the world in which she existed exactly why she was brought into being. 

And that was my job. It was the job of each of us that claim the name of Jesus Christ.

So, as an act of honoring her, I will endeavor to do what I should have done in days past.

I will present the glorious and wonderful purpose of marriage.