By J.FARRELL FISHER, JULY 26-27, 2017

I was birthed June 12, 1936. My father and mother divorced when I was three years of age. I was taken by my mother to her parents where I was raised for nine years by my grandparents who still had two daughters at home, one just two years older than me and the other five years older than me, both strong students, pianists, and choir members of the First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Tennessee. In fact, the younger daughter later became pianist for their church for ten to twelve years, an outstanding church pianist there and later, after her marriage, pianist at First Baptist, Harriman, Tennessee. They were central to a ‘lonely child’ finding or being found by the loving, merciful, faithful, “son-seeking Father-God”!

If I saw my father it was because my grandparents in Cleveland would put me on a bus and my Dad’s father would pick me up in Athens where I would stay three or four days, and in all those years I spent one night in the home of my father. If I saw him while in Athens, I usually walked about a mile to his office. There were a few times he came to his parents to see me.

I played all three sports our high school offered: football, basketball, and baseball. When we played his high school in basketball and baseball, I saw him a few times for short minutes viewing baseball and basketball, but never a word of encouragement. My senior year in high school, in football, we were playing Knoxville Central in Knoxville, both teams 7-0; after the first quarter we were leading by a score of 7 to 0, but early in the second quarter I tackled their 230 pound tailback knee high and was knocked unconscious.( Our school lost by about twenty points.) I was taken by ambulance to the Catholic Hospital in Knoxville where eight-nine hours later I awoke, surrounded by all the family, and my Dad and his wife were there. The hospital staff was not sure I was going to survive. I ended up in college at Baylor University where I played offense and defense the sophomore through senior years.

After I married my wife, Sue McNabb, and we were blessed with four children, my father was never in our home – if my children met him or saw him, I had to take them to his office. He was never in my home after I married! To say I was a lonely child, in and of that fact, would not be understood except by those who’ve never known the biblical care and love a father ought to give for his children – oh, some do, and I was blessed by many men in my grand-parents home church who over the years, yes, did their Christ-loving best to nurture me as substitute fathers!

“Loneliness” – especially related to parent-child relationships, is described in Random House Collegiate Dictionary of 1975 as “lone, solitary, without company, companionless, destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship; unfrequented, or ‘standing apart, isolated”! And, I say, without hesitation, “NO CHILD BIRTHED IN THIS WORLD OUGHT TO HAVE TO LIVE WITHOUT HIS/HER FATHER OR MOTHER, OR BOTH!” It IS one of America’s greatest tragedies that has impacted untold millions and millions of children adversely!

It is true that today the marriage-divorce rate is not as high as it once was in the U.S.A., but many who study marriage-divorce rates are saying it’s still near half of all marriages ending in divorce, including some folks with multiple marriages and multiple divorces, while many in marriages live in what some have called as nothing more than “quiet desperation”! And, is that because some have no perception at all of “Christ-centered marriages”? Without a doubt!

Even as God held on to a “very small remnant” in Israel as most there rebelled, becoming corrupt evil-doers, the small remnant eventually birthed the Messiah! And, there is today, a “true remnant” of faithful mates in marriage and a few “faithful partners” who carry, yes, a heavy, burdensome load of frustration, pain, sorrow, and loneliness because the mate forsook the “holy vows”!

When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:9 that a “great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries,” I know he was speaking about ‘adversaries’ against Christ and the Holy Word, but, at the same time, today, there are many “adversaries” opposed to Christ-centered marriages, living with their attitude they have a ‘fleshly right’ to take marriage or leave it!

If the writer of Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life,” could we not also say, “Keep your marriage, for in it there springs the very issues of marital blessing and the God-blessed ministry of child-birthing and child-rearing”?

Do YOU ever consider “pleasant marriages”? In Psalm 16:5-6, as King David reflected upon his blessed position in God’s kingdom-reign, have you ever reflected and rested your marriage under the watchful eye and care of Loving God the Father? “O Lord, You are the portion of my ‘inheritance’ in marriage and my cup of blessing; You maintain my ‘position’ in the marriage. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.” Do YOU in your marriage? And also related, from my point of view, as helping marriages, what did David say in Psalm 16:7-11?

“I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons (maybe a dark season of the marriage relationship?). I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Does that include “pleasures in your marriage”?).

There is the reality of the need for “caring for your soul – its destiny now and for eternity”, but in life’s journey, including marriage, there must be by both parties a commitment in receiving Christ’s care for marriage maintenance! I read one comment an unknown writer made: “If a child of God marries a child of the devil, said child of God is sure to have some trouble with his father-in-law.”

It was Edmund Burke, in “The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations” (p.196), who said: “The Christian religion, by confining marriages to pairs, and rendering the relationship indissoluble, has by these two things done more toward the peace, happiness, settlement, and civilization of the world, than by any other part in this whole scheme of divine wisdom.”

There are no doubts about it at all! Holy, sacred, anointed, God-blessed marriages don’t ‘hang on threads’ – they are constructed on the solid foundation of His abiding Presence and faithful intercession! Yet, whether spring or summer storms of heavy winds in the natural world, even so in marriages there can be the ‘upsweep’ of the ‘flesh’ intent on its way or the highway as the ‘storm-clouds of Satan’ seek to destroy God-blessed marriages!

I love what Donald T. Kauffman wrote in “Gist of the Lesson”, speaking about marriage: “A good marriage is not a contract between two persons but a sacred covenant between three. Too often Christ is never invited to the wedding and finds no room in the home. Why? Is it because we have misrepresented Him and forgotten His joyful outlook on life?”

Holy God “created” our world with planet Earth and literally thousands upon thousands upon thousands of stars roaming in the galaxies of His grace, never colliding, but soaring under His sacred supervision! But the Creator doesn’t know or provide sacred supervision for lives, marriages, businesses, callings, ministries, or oversight for sons and daughters of faith in their journeys?

It was William Wordsworth, in his writing “Excursion”, (Bk.VI), who wrote: “Why do not words and kiss, and solemn pledge, and nature that is kind in woman’s breast, And reason that in man is wise and good, And fear of Him who is a righteous Judge – Why do not these prevail for human life, To keep two hearts together, that began their spring-time with one love.”

Dare I tell you ‘why’ some choose divorce over honoring Holy God in sacred marriage? Because too many, whether guilty or not in even considering divorce or not, do not see ‘marriage’ as under the Sovereignty of God – for them, “It’s our business what we choose to do!” Even within a ‘so-called’ “Christian marriage there ARE two individuals with an inclination, a disposition, yes, an ‘attitude’ toward the sin-nature they leave ‘alive in them’ though Christ Jesus crucified it on Calvary’s Cross! There is little, if any, of divine discernment in husband-wife relations. Disillusionment becomes the ‘discipline’ and “mutual trust and reverence” goes out the front door of many hearts and homes!

Disillusionment WILL birth cynicism while trust breeds confidence and assurance in one another’s promises and vows! James 1:4 really nails it for a believer’s marriage relationship as well as one’s individual journey of the faith-pilgrimage. James said: “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Yet many enter the marriage relationship without a single ‘ounce’ of patience, indicating a more upsetting concept in themselves than in a chosen mate! At the same time, one can, should, and WILL fight for the marriage ‘healing’ if needed, while some are determined to show their ‘mate’ the door because they will no longer “put up” with her or him.

Maimed marriages usually have one or both with no solid foundation of faith. Maimed marriages are often ‘bankrupt’ of any spiritual understanding related to “what the will of the Lord is.” Ephesians 5:21, speaking, I believe of both “body life in the church” AND “body life in the marriage,” with Paul saying, “submitting to one another in the fear of God.” [Tell me, how many times in your inner personal relationships with friends, family, or church members, have you heard a discussion about “mutual submission to one another in the fear of God”?

Follow carefully Ephesians 5:22-33!! “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; AND He is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, JUST AS Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her with the washing of water by the word, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

So, the husband is ‘head’ over the wife? Does that mean the husband rules and reigns with a big stick? Is it “Shut up, woman, and do what I tell you to do?” That’s nowhere in the Word of God or the intent of demeaning wives to a “slave status”? Absolutely not! Come to Matthew 20:25-28!! Jesus had just called His disciples to Himself for a vital reason as in the infancy of their faith they were willing to fight for key positions and placements in Christ’s administration. But notice what the Lord Jesus Christ said!

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them (the people), and those who are great exercise authority over them. YET IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU; but whoever desires to become great among you, LET HIM BE YOUR SERVANT. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave (or servant) – JUST AS the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Discipleship “in Christ” is not a “lording one’s self over others in the church”, but a laying down of one’s life of faith in Christ of ‘serving, blessing, and meeting one another’s needs’! Is that the picture you see in modern churches today? Examine what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:5-6! Paul said: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your BONDSERVANTS for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Consider this statement in the marriage relationship and awesome ministry of ‘child-rearing’! “And ourselves (husbands, wives, moms, dads) your BONDSERVANTS for Jesus’ sake.” So, quarreling in marriages honors Christ? Looking out for one’s self with no concern about examples to the birthed children of “laid-down lives” that want them to witness Christ Jesus in their parents? Have you heard it: “Christ Jesus may be Lord in your marriage, but I have a right to feel and do as I please; that wife (or husband) has no right to treat me as he (she) does – if I want to ‘play around’, I will,” revealing the ‘I will’ as the destructive enemy of all marriage relationships!

How many, in counseling situations, have you witnessed who only consider their love for and honoring of Christ Jesus as the foundation stone of holding on to and blessing their marriage relationship? It’s time, when marriage disagreements erupt, to consider: “Who is in control? Him, me, or Christ Jesus?” “ Me, her, or Christ Jesus?” Is it right, honorable, justifiable, sacred, redemptive to examine in ourselves as a marriage partner: “How far did Christ Jesus go to save me from Hell and meaninglessness and godlessness as I served myself, my selfishness, my sin, as I shut Him out as a wife/husband?” If so, and sacred sincerity reigns, then all our ‘fleshliness’ trying to ruin our marriage will not rule our minds and hearts, but we will turn from our self-centeredness to God’s Sovereign reign for the honor of Christ alone and the “rescue” of the love-relationship in my marriage! Amen?

Matthew 19:6 says, “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” In my New King James Version of the Bible, the comment below this verse is vital! “Since God ordained marriage, human efforts to dissolve it constitute an attack on God’s own work.” True? Holy matrimony must pass away but find renewal day by day as men and women lean not to their own understanding but give God His rightful place as Sovereign in their marriage, life, and business and ministry relationships!

BY J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 30-31, 2018

Browsing the inner-net on my computer recently, from HTTPS://www.divorce source. Com/ main/U.S. divorce – rates –and Statistics -1037.SHTMl stated: “The U.S., since 1980.- ‘we have about 2.4 million marriages a year and 1.2 million divorces a year.’”

I hope you won’t think I’m “scandalous”, paraphrasing passages in James related to ‘disciples’, but I want to use the context of the passage to relate it to “marriages and divorces in the U.S.A. today”! James 4:1-10, paraphrased by J.Farrell Fisher, says:

“You ask, and receive not, because in ‘your marriage-dilemma’ you ask selfishly, that you may continue in your selfish, self-serving way. Adulterers and adulteresses (even spiritually), do you not know ‘friendship with the world’s false marriage ways’ is enmity with God?

Do you think the Holy Word says in vain, ‘the marriage-spirit’ that dwells in you ‘lusts’ in envy’? But Holy God gives more grace. Wherefore He resists that ‘self-centered-marriage-indifference’, but gives and keeps on giving grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist Satan, as he seeks to destroy your marriage faithfulness, and he will flee from you. When ‘temptations’ come to walk away from your ‘marriage vows’, cleanse your hearts, you sinners, and Satan will flee from you.

Draw near to God; and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and wash your minds and hearts in the blood of Calvary’s Lamb, you ‘twisted-mind’ professor of faith. Be broken by the Spirit and the Word, weep, and mourn; let your ‘fleshly laughter’ be turned to mourning, and your ‘fleshly joy’ to extreme heaviness of heart. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE!”

The end of Verse 29 in Luke 12 says, “…don’t be of a doubtful mind”, yet carelessly, when wounded by marriage infidelity, some choose to just ‘walk away’ ignoring God’s Word, Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.”

But many have problems about ‘marital infidelity’, because of their even ‘mixed up’ religious, personal, or ‘brain-division’, like Einstein, though seemingly ‘religious’ in a sense, who once said: [From Manu Varghese, Nikea 1100 to I phone 5’s], “I do not believe in a personal God and I never have denied this but have expressed it clearly,” or, “clearly, I’m not a disciple of Christ, or a personal God.”].

And when it comes to “marriage and/or divorce”, many, certainly, are assured in themselves that “He has no place in what they decide to do for themselves”!!

But Edmund Burke once said: ( The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, edited by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Company,p.296), “The Christian religion (or Faith), by confining marriage to pairs (husband and wife!!), and rendering the relation indissoluble, has by these two things done more toward the peace, happiness, settlement, and civilization of the world, than by any other part in this whole scheme of divine wisdom.” SO TRUE!!

It was William Wordsworth, in “Excursion”, (Bk.VI), who wrote: “Why do not words and kiss, and solemn pledge, And nature that is kind in woman’s breast, And reason that in man is wise and good, AND fear of Him who is a righteous Judge, – Why do not these prevail for human life, To keep two hearts together, that began Their spring-time with one love.” Great question!

I don’t know who wrote it, but I read it a long, long time ago, and kept it for such a time as this: “If a child of God marries a child of the devil, said child of God is sure to have some trouble with his father-in-law.” Classic word!!

There is no doubt in my mind and heart that the sanctity of marriage and the family relationship is one of the strong pillars of a nation’s foundation that keeps it up to the glory of God, but when the majority of a nation grants ‘acceptance’ of divorce as ‘OK’, it signs the beginning of its own ‘death warrant’ as ‘one nation under God’! At the same time, irresponsible spiritual ‘professors’ of faith in marriage, see it as ‘vital’ in ceremony but optional when ‘heat’ arises!

For some, ‘fleshly pleasures’ outside of marriage are ‘OK’ as long as one continues to attend church on Sunday! Some see marriage as acceptable, but they’ll scream that marriage without leniency in outside ‘fleshly indulgence’ is unacceptable to them. ‘Love pretense’ is not the same as ‘divine love practice’! There is no ‘peace’ when marriage vows are seen as unimportant or unnecessary when ‘one’ or both in supposed ‘holy matrimony’ accept the ‘promise’ but without consequences if one chooses to ‘play’ the ‘flesh, worldly, or Satanic way’ in marriages!

Matthew 19:5-6, Jesus speaking, declares, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Holy God didn’t INSTITUTE marriage with ‘options’, nor does He overlook or excuse marital infidelity by ‘promiscuous intercourse’ of ‘friends’, but HIS ‘faithful marriage vows’ are intended to promote marriage faithfulness and, yes, protect children that come from their supposed loving relationship.

I’m now 82 years of age, but still have, yes, pain over the divorce of my mom and dad when I was three years of age. After the divorce, my mother took me to her parents, where from 3 years of age to 12 years of age, I was with my grandparents, but also with my mother’s two sisters, one just two years older than me and the other about six years older than me – godly grandparents were needed, but those two sisters, my young aunts, compassionately and faithfully loved me, plus, in church attendance with them, I was blessed by faithful men, disciples of Christ, who went out of their way to love, serve, bless, and encourage me!! My mother re-married, her husband unsaved, but after about seven years with mom and him, then Baylor University and Seminary, just about three weeks before he died at 78 years of age, he said to me, “Farrell, all these years you’ve shared the gospel truth with me – one more time would you share it?” I did! He prayed! About three weeks after, one of the retirement nurses called Sue and I asking, “What has happened to Frank Callaway? He’s not the same man – he travels the halls and cafeteria telling everybody about Christ Jesus!”

Even ‘divided marriages’ at times have ‘flashes’ of Light in Christ that can, do, and will make a difference in some children’s lives, because the ‘believer’ intercedes to the glory of God for all the family, including maybe an unsaved partner.

THERE ‘IS’ MARRIAGE MADNESS, FOR SOME! There was a statement in “Changing Times” years and years ago that stated: “Marriages may be made in heaven, but man is responsible for the maintenance work”, and seriously sad that often times neither one or the pair understand “maintenance work”. And some accept no responsibility OR accountability in seeing the “marriage honors God”!

It’s so interesting AND convicting that 1 John 3:8 talks about “Christ coming to earth to destroy the works of the devil”, but you yourself see no marriage conflict as the ‘works of the devil’, so, you assure yourself you can handle marriage difficulties without the help of “the Savior”! How clueless is that for some in the midst of ‘marriage turmoil’?? Both individually and as a twosome in marriage, we both must see the eternal purpose of our marriage union, AND togetherness in seeing it exists for the spiritual purpose of glorifying the God who brought ‘us together’ and who wants to see our marriage problems resolved in full surrender to Him.

But across America, most in marriage unions fail because, though believing in God, He surely cannot be the foundation of their ‘fleshly union’, even when He instituted His eternal purposes in marriage before its foundation of the earth! When the marriage union, yes, often shuts God out, they willfully do so with no hope of Him fulfilling His eternal plan through their marriage union!

But hear me! In “Christian marriages”, Christ IS to have His rightful place in the union as His gathering place of both “salt and Light” to honor Himself and to sustain a sacred marriage for the enrichment, blessing, hope, and fruit of the Spirit in both husband and wife, plus the ‘kids’ that usually come!!

What does Matthew 5:14 tell us? “You are the light of the world. A ‘marriage’ that exists through Me is set on a hill”, yes, as shining lights to a needy world around you!! Do you understand? He’s not telling YOU in marriage union to ‘go out and find a light’ – “in Christ”, whether husband or wife or the union of the two, “Let Jesus’ Light shine through each of you to one another”!

Tony Evans, in his book, “America’s Only Hope,” (published by Moody Press, Chicago, in 1990), told the following ‘eye and heart-opening statement’ about Matthew 5:14: “Notice, that Jesus didn’t say, ‘Go out and get the light so you can brighten things up.’ He said, “You ARE the light.” When you are something, you don’t have to go out to find it. All you have to do is discover what you are,” (and I say, ‘discover who Jesus is in you!). Evans went on:

“There’s a story about a little eagle that fell out of its nest and landed in a turkey farm. The eagle grew up among the turkeys and, although he looked a bit different, learned to waddle like a turkey, bob his head like a turkey, and act like a turkey.

One day the young eagle looked up into the sky and saw a beautiful eagle soaring above. The little eagle in the turkey yard thought, “Oh, I’d love to be able to do that!” As the eagle soared overhead, it looked down and saw the young eagle below. Suddenly it swooped down to the ground and asked, “What are you doing here?” The little eagle replied, “I’m just here in the turkey yard where I’ve always been.”

The great eagle looked and said, “Spread your wings, boy. You do just what I do. Follow me.” Then he flapped his wings and lifted off the ground. The young eagle tried it, too. “Whee! This is all right!” “See,” the mature eagle said, “you’ve been living among these turkeys so long that you were beginning to believe you’re something you’re not! Follow me, and you’ll find out what you really are.”

“But I’m scared,” the little eagle replied. “I won’t know what to do when I get out of the turkey yard.” “When you get out of here, you’ll find out,” the big eagle answered. So the little eagle began to soar and fly. He loved it. But the turkeys down below called out to him and said, “Hey little guy, what are you doing up there? You belong down here.” .. “No, I don’t,” called out the young eagle. “I used to belong there, but now I’m what I was created to be. I don’t belong with you turkeys anymore.”

Question! Do YOU truly know to Whom you belong in your world? To the world, your old sin nature, to Satan? OR, are you owned by Christ’s blood purchase, and do you see yourself as truly “the Son of God in and through Christ alone, MARKED BY THE INDWELLING PRESENCE OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT”?

Another book I’ve treasured is a book by Jerry B. Jenkins entitled “Loving Your Marriage Enough To Protect it”, published by Moody Press in Chicago in 1989, 1993. He wrote: “One of the saddest and scariest stories I’ve ever heard on this subject was about a young evangelist. He was just barely twenty-one, on fire for God, effective in his preaching and soul-winning, and in great demand from local churches. He had preached several large crusades and was soon invited to an area-wide effort at which he would be the main speaker.

Though he was not yet out of college, he was a protégé of international evangelist Sammy Tippet and was admired and considered wise. Though he didn’t have a steady girlfriend, he dated regularly at Bible college. Spiritually he was alert and mature. He was, however, naïve. The first night of the crusade he headed up the counseling ministry in a large room near the pastor’s study. A beautiful teenager asked if she could speak with him personally. He tried to assign her to someone else, but, when she persisted, he agreed for her to wait until he was finished with the others. More than an hour after the meeting had ended, the rest of the counselors and counselees had left, and he was alone with the young girl. A few minutes later she burst from the room screaming, “He made a pass at me! He wanted to make love to me!”

That very night the pastor of the host church and a small group of the crusade planners confronted the young preacher and demanded an explanation. He denied the girl’s charge but had no witnesses. The girl had seemed an upstanding young woman in the church, and there was no reason to disbelieve her story. “What did happen in that room?” the pastor demanded.

“To tell you that would be to make an accusation behind someone’s back,” he said. “Which is what happened to me. I ask only that I be allowed to face my accuser.” The pastor and the others canceled the rest of the crusade and agreed that the young woman should be asked to face the preacher in their presence. Two nights later she showed up with her parents at a private board meeting. The pastor asked if she would care to speak about her charges against the preacher.

“She has already said all she has to say,” her father said sternly, her mother nodding and glaring at the accused. “Would you, son, care to share your version of what happened in that room the other night?” “No sir,” the evangelist said. “I see no future in that. Only she and I know the truth, and I cannot defend myself. I’d just like to say this to her. Cindy, you know what happened and what didn’t happen in that room. If you don’t tell the truth, I will be branded and may never preach again. This will damage my reputation and that of the church and even that of God. If I did what you say I did, I deserve no better, but we both know that is not the truth. I’m begging you in the name of Christ to set the record straight.”

The silence hung heavy as the board and her parents watched her face contort into a grimace before the tears began to flow. “I lied”, she said quietly. “I’m sorry. I lied. He didn’t make a pass at me; I made a pass at him. When he turned me down I was so embarrassed and ashamed and angry that I made up that story. I’m so sorry.” That preacher is no longer young. He has never again allowed himself to be alone in a room with a female to whom he is not related.” For YOUR testimony to the glory of God, is your marriage the testimony of God’s blessings because of His promises and your faithfulness to your marriage, or sadly, do you have to admit that you’ve allowed your marriage vows before Holy God to just wither away? Sadly, too many marriages today, with both husbands and/or wives are allowed to ‘wither’ rather than be a testimony that glorifies Christ Jesus and His Word! Why not, “Our marriage IS the ‘new creation’ in Christ, and ‘in Him, by Him, and for Him, to the glory of God!”