Passage
I have done a lot of meditating on this passage today.
On one hand, this doesn't apply to me. It can apply to advice I give to other people, or to other covenants I make (either with God or with other people), but basically, it doesn't apply to me yet. I'm not married.
But then again...I am a single, educated, upper-20s Christian female. Most of the Bible wouldn't apply to me unless I analyze it. So maybe I should take this as instructions for any sort of commitment. And I do try to keep my commitments. I honor my Bible study by arriving on time and preparing. I honor the people I work with by doing the work I'm assigned. I honor the people I work for (in a volunteer-y sense) by showing up, energized and ready to work. I honor God by trying to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then loving my neighbour as myself. Do I fail? Yes. But I try. I try to keep these commitments. And maybe I'm not in a covenant-y relationship like marriage, but I'm trying to keep them as I would keep a covenant-y relationship.
Are there reasons to leave? Yes. But it's clear that Jesus doesn't think much of them. It is because of the hardness of humans that we had to be given the option of divorce (and I would say that the hardness of humans extends to times such as abuse--meaning that it's the hardness of the abuser that we have to be given the option of divorce). Most reasons aren't good enough to leave.
And leave the commitments I have isn't exactly like a divorce. I wouldn't say that, say, quitting my job is breaking my commitment. Providing notice and leaving in a fair way (paying back any signing bonus or whatnot) is honourable. That's the difference between the commitments I have and marriage, I guess. I can leave.
But I don't, which you think would prove that I'm marriageable material. But evidently God doesn't think so. Anyway. Keep commitments. Keep on keeping my commitments. Got it. Moving on.
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