Covenants

At church our group of women were talking about the importance of marriage and how society is losing sight of its significance. The evidence of that is shown in examples of people living together without marriage, even to the extent of having children. Reasons for this practice include not being able to "afford the kind of wedding" they want, basically wanting it to just be a big party rather than a serious covenant between two people, in the presence of God and witnesses. Further evidence is an item in the paper where someone had written into an advice column. She and her husband had decided after 10 years of marriage to have an "open marriage". (I remember several decades ago there was a fad called "wife swapping". I guess this is a liberated women's term for the same thing.) Her concern was that she was getting more "dates" than her husband was and she didn't want him to feel bad. What should she do to "help" him?? Also, I know of a young couple who are separated and have decided, mostly for economic reasons, to not finalize a divorce right now. They will just live as if they weren't married, despite the existence of children who have always lived in their home with their "parents", mother and father, altogether.
As I pondered this trend toward trivializing what was previously considered a serious covenant, I realized that it extends to other areas of society as well. As we become more transient, family relationships in general are often neglected to the point of near non-existence. Siblings go for years without any contact. Parents and grown children actually lose track of each other to the point that when someone dies, it's difficult to locate a family member to notify.
Along with familial weakened relationships, there is a major trend toward what I would call "pop religion". Anyone can easily get "ordained a minister" in order to perform "marriages". You don't even need to believe in God, much less know anything about Him! People consider themselves "religious" but don't belong to any specific church. I guess that's all well and good, but why consider themselves religious? If you're not even sure there IS a God and have no intention of finding out anything about Him, why bother "considering yourself religious"? I can remember being shocked at the results of a study that showed how many students in seminaries- people actually intending to become some form of religious leader- who weren't sure they believed in God and more who weren't sure of the divinity of Jesus Christ, which means they weren't sure of the truthfulness of the Bible which has been considered by millions of people for centuries to be the written witness of people who taught about and communicated with God. I guess the advantage for these doubters is that they don't have to worry about accountability. Their relationship with God is totally self-centered and one-way. They feel free to assign to God whatever attributes they choose: He will always forgive no matter what, He is so mighty that He doesn't need me for anything but I need Him- but only when I'm desperate. They seem to feel He is at their beck and call to take away burdens, ease pain, give guidance, or what-have-you. But He doesn't require payment of any kind back. If you can claim that you're not sure about the Bible, you can ignore "If you love me, keep my commandments." After all, who knows who God really is? He becomes whatever is handy for you at the time. Isn't that like the ignored parent who suddenly becomes so loved and fawned over when the "independent" son or daughter desperately needs help/money? I think that if anyone was truly honest about it, they would WANT to know who God is. They would make the effort to search, ponder, and pray. God is NOT mysterious, although we don't always understand all He does. Those who say God loves them no matter what are right. He does. However, if we want to let Him know that we love Him back and don't just want Him to be our occasional instant source of money/help/comfort when we selfishly remember Him and desperately call on Him, we need to work harder at figuring out how to let Him know we appreciate Him ALL the time. He is not going to whip us if we don't. But He will justifiably be disappointed. And we are going to want to hide under the rocks for shame when we realize how we treated Him.
Jesus Christ suffered beyond our comprehension all for love of us. He wasn't forced to do it. It wasn't just some pointless ceremonial rite. Our Father has given us the opportunity to make our own choice, too. Don't we owe Him something?