The Life of The Meaning
An enigma is a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation; a person of puzzling or contradictory character; a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle. ‘The meaning of life’ is one such statement that can be read into in as many ways as there are people, without a a definable absolute that is as constant as the north star, and as certain as the sunrise. Yet many miss the meaning because what is favored is an open-ended personal choice over certainty and truth, and the person becomes the enigma, not the meaning of life.
But going down the path of least resistance in favor of pursuits where personal happiness and comfort is the ultimate end, aided by whatever means seem reasonably necessary to attain it, is fair game today. If whether knowingly or unknowingly that is the position taken, rather than a mindset that places an uncompromising commitment to God first, and the happiness and welfare of others second to ourselves, it will in the end prove to be the ultimate betrayal.
But what does this have to do with marriage? Precisely what we are seeing all around us. It may be more understandable though not more right that those who don’t have a viable relationship to God see marriage as a means to their personal ends, rather than a commitment to a person for life, because for them, everything is relative. But for the Christian there isn’t an excuse in the world for not doing far better than that.
The meaning and purpose of marriage originated in the Bible. God ordained it as a covenant for life for the benefit and ultimate happiness of a man and wife, who spiritually speaking are no longer two individuals but one, and for their children too. There is good reason that he commanded man not to break that sacred bond as Jesus spoke of in Matthew 19.
There is also very little justification given in the Bible that would pose an exception—a study worth undertaking. The fact that Christian marriages rival secular ones in their excuse for dissolution speaks bewildering volumes about the spiritual state of the church in our time.
Marriage was designed not to be an enigma but a blessing. It was never about two people looking for a way out because they can’t get along or aren’t in love anymore, it was and still is about two people becoming one for life, living no longer for themselves but for each other under God first, and for their children under God secondly. To look beyond this is to miss the life of the meaning.