22nd May, 2022.

THE PARADOX

1Tim 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. KJV

My parents have been married for over forty (40) years without taking a break for a day. Their union produced four wonderful children of whom I'm proud to be one. Both of them got saved in the 70s in a conservative evangelical church. The emphasis of that era was "Holiness". Those were the days when Christians were derogatorily called "SU". Godliness was the message and thorough Christian discipleship was their forte. I was told how matured believers discipled believers and held them accountable on almost all aspects of their lives. They went that far. Though there were certain extremes in their doctrines and dogma, at no point in history was any church movement perfect but that era stood for Christ and godliness and it paid off for their lives, marriage inclusive. Also, i looked at the marriages of those who were my parent's contemporaries, those marriages( of over 40-50 years) are still standing because they drank from the same spiritual well and had the same values. That doesn't mean they had perfect marriages but separation and divorce was uncommon among the brethren of that era.

Those days, they had no privilege of listening to "Family Life" teachers and preachers like we have today. "Singles Conference" and "Marriage Seminars" weren't common likewise books and tapes. Knowledge and resource persons on the subject of marriage was limited unlike today where we have many preachers and teachers on the subject of marriage and family life. Our generation have numerous books and mesages on that subject. The paradox in all these is that the generation with plethora of resources and knowledge on marriage have had numerous cases of chaotic homes, separation and divorce while the generation with little or no resources had successful and stable marriages. This a paradox. Chaotic homes, separation and divorce is rife today among Christians than it was yesteryears. I've not in anyway opined that older generation of believers didn't experience the marital maladies we're seeing today. They did but not as much as we have now.

For sometime, this observation of mine troubled me. I just wanted to know why these two generations had such differences on marital issues. In my meditation, the Holy Spirit dropped the line of a scripture on my heart: "...but godliness is profitable unto all things,.."(1Tim 4:8). Another version read thus: "...but godliness (spiritual training) is of value in everything and in every way,..."(AMP). Hey! My inner eyes opened. I saw that godliness is profitable for marriage too. The generation that pursued godliness( spiritual training) had good homes& stable marriages. To think godliness is only profitable for eternity is to be short-sighted. If the bible says godliness( spiritual training) is profitable for all things (marriage inclusive)then I believe that should be the pursuit of all. A godly man will not cheat on his wife neither will he beat her. He will love her(unconditionally) just as Christ love the church. Nagging will not be the stock-in- trade of a godly woman neither will she make her home hellish for her husband. She will submit to her husband as unto the Lord. Godly singles won't play pranks and use gimmicks to get a spouse, they'll wait on God till they get a clear direction from Him. They won't have problem discerning His voice because they are consistent with God. Sexual purity will not be compromised by godly singles. Marital maladies are traceable to deficiency in godliness. Nothing beats godliness (spiritual training). If singles and married train to be godly in every way, their marriages will glorify God. Our consecration has a direct impact on our marriage. Let's pursue godliness.