Marriage and Family | Biblical and Spiritual Insights into Divorce Proofing

Divorce Proof

Biblical and Spiritual Insights Into Divorce Proofing Your Marriage

“[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7).

  • “Bears all things” means that loves shelters or covers.
  • “Believes all things” means that love never loses faith in others and is willing to think the best of them.
  • “Hopes all things” means that love looks forward with optimism, knowing that God works all things together for good.
  • “Endures all things” means that love holds on. In the end, love never fails and it never ends.
  • When we love, we take part in eternity. We can ask God to perfect our love for him and for others.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn 4:7).

  • God authored the concept of love. When people become believers, they learn how to “love one another” because the Spirit within shows them how as they yield to his leading.
  • Christian relationships ought to be the most loving in the world. Christians who meet each other for the first time experience a bond of love that transcends understanding.
  • The love that binds Christians makes for solid and eternal relationships. The love in our relationships reveals God in us.

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mk 12:29-31).

  • People must give love in order to receive love.
  • The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
  • The second greatest commandment (Mk 12:31) is to love your neighbor as yourself.
  • This is not a suggestion or a good idea, but a commandment.

“They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Moses, because of the hardest of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (Mt 19:7-8).

  • God has always intended each married couple, one man and one woman, to remain married for life (Gen 2:24). Moses had indeed permitted divorce (Deut 24:1), but only because of the “hardness of human hearts.
  • Divorce is permissible, but marriage vows should not be taken lightly.
  • God would have couples do their best—with his help—to keep their marriage intact. If a divorce occurs, God’s compassionate love can heal even the deepest wounds.

This course was originally taught by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr. at Ohio Valley University.

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