Proverbs 18:22 — “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.”
The divorce rate used to be something that people referred to as a stat of the success or lack thereof when it comes to the institution of marriage. I say “used to” because that number is a little less trustworthy these days. Not because great marriages have skyrocketed in number in today’s culture, but because fewer people are getting married in the first place.
Falling Short of Biblical Marriage
People are just living together, and when they break up, that statistic doesn’t show up in the percentage of broken marriages. I’m here to draw a line in the sand gentlemen and let you know your Free Trial is about to expire and it’s about time it did.
God defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman for many benefits. I can’t find anywhere in the Bible where it says to live together in place of marriage to see if you are compatible with each other.
From a Biblical standpoint, let’s start with the fact that the Bible says, you’re living in sin (Hebrews 13:4 — Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous).
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From an earthly standpoint, you living together communicates all sorts of things. It says…
- You don’t know if your partner is worth committing to for the rest of your life
- You’d like to keep your options open in case something else comes along
- You may have commitment issues
- You may have come from a broken home and have trust issues in the whole marriage concept
- You don’t put a value on “the document” that says you are married to each other
- You’ve seen what marriages do to other people, and they look miserable
- You feel no one gets married anymore
As you can see, there are quite a few reasons people don’t get married anymore, and there is probably another dozen that isn’t on this list.
Don’t Take The Easy Way
The strange thing is the list from an earthly standpoint raises some valid points. I’m here to say there are still some great marriages out there that are built on God’s foundation of what a marriage is. There are still people out there that spend time working on their marriages with studies, prayer, and excellent communication.
Don’t take the “easy” way out and live with the person you are supposed to love. Commit to saying that no matter what comes up, you want to spend the rest of your lives together. You are in this for the long haul, and you want to please God with your choice for marriage.
If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit should be tap dancing on your heart to stop living in sin and marry that person you love so much.
If you are not a Christian, I would suggest revisiting the Word of God to find out what God says about marriage and why He means it. Base your choice of marriage on what God says and not what other people are doing.
I just got a notification that my free trial is about to expire. I want to make sure I haven’t entered any payment method that will automatically charge me afterwards.
Thank you
That is the title of the blog article
It’s a tongue in cheek reference to people “trying before they buy” when it comes to cohabiting and having sex before marriage. The Bible doesn’t have a “try before you buy” plan. It has a “get married so you and the wife of your youth can do the things you were called to do that you can’t do each alone” plan.
You for real man?
Amazing article! I admit I checked it out at first because of the title thinking I had a payment due that I didn’t know about. Some may get upset saying it’s “clickbait” but someone needed to say what was said here. We have a generation of earthly and spiritual orphans out here and a good part of that has to do with the breakdown of the sanctity of marriage. Good check your heart moment for those who are unmarried as well as those of us who are. Both sides need to step up.
Thank you for the encouragement. When I titled the article, I never meant for it to clickbait but rather a wake up call to us all!!!!
The title threw me for a loop too, so mission accomplished, you got me to read the article! But I’m already a member and didn’t think there was a free trial either 😉
Keep up the great work!
The title did throw me off guard a bit, but then, it was a very creative “throw off” to reach the point of the article…we must pray and lift up our marriages to God, as it’s under heavy attack from the enemy…thanks for this Mr. Todd! Keep up the amazing work to inspire and uplift through the Holy Spirit!
Amen!!! Thank you for the encouragement! Stay Uncommen
Lol! That’s a great title 😂
I, even knowing the truth, have fallen into the world’s dangerous thinking of living together. Knowing full well that I wasn’t intending to marry. Thank God for showing me how important (and fulfilling) biblical marriage is.
Thank you brother!!!
Great reminder! I appreciate the in your face, biblical way of telling this. Commitment to anything is shallow nowadays. I pray that we all would get a high view of the Christ that’s committed to us, so it’s just natural to commit to Him and others. Especially to our wives and those we love.
Thank you for the encouragement! It’s not always popular to tell a hard truth. But we always try to tell it with Truth & Grace!
I pray that each I can realise the joy & sanctity of my marriage and to remember that love covers all things
Amen!
Excellent title for a much needed wake up call for my brothers in Christ as well as those who are not. The day of reckoning is fast approaching. God is not mocked. Continue trusting in God’s Love, Truth and Righteousness. Blessings V/R Nick
Thank you for the encouragement
Over the last year I have been going through a divorce. This was our fourth time having an almost split-up falling out. One thing that was always common on my part was when I made the changes I thought were needed they were only temporary. plain and simple truth is even if I had stuck to those “changes” each time, I was still living a life of sin. There was sin in my life I never even realized was there. I did a devotional called dangerous prayers. Did I dare to pray this way? At first I thought I had already stopped living in sin and had shed all my former ways. How wrong I was. I sit and read
Psalms 139: 23, NKJV Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. I really had no clue how much God was about to change my life when I prayed this to Him. God began to show many many, many things in my life that needed to leave. Especially if I am to serve in His Kingdom. If I began to list them all this would become a book. I will just say I am grateful for that prayer. For my marriage that I never wanted to end. Were we unequally yoke? Is that enough reason to quit trying? I really don’t think so but so many marriages end because of it. Truly I feel it starts with obedience on our part as husbands, fathers, and leaders in our homes and communities.The common thing is to do what everyone else does, but hey I agree we are called to be Uncommen and do what God’s truth tells us to do.
Thank you for sharing your story. Whenever we ask God to shed light on our sin, it usually ends up showing us more then we bargained for – stay Uncommen!!!
Haha yep, I fell for this too but I read Uncommen anyway so I just read earlier what I would normally read for my morning devotional. God really uses you Tj
Thank you Mike. May God get all the Glory!
Great article!
I have to admit that I wish I had done things differently. I’ve been married to my wife for 12 years but we did live together first and didn’t save ourselves for marriage. I can’t help but wonder if that contributes to the difficulties our marriage has seen over the past few years.
Saw the title and…blew off reading the rest until I was cleaning out the mailbox. Why should I care that a free trial was expiring? Seems the you accomplished a couple of things with your use of deception 1) you did create angst (read fear) for some who were unsure if they has committed to something on a trail basis and may be charged for continuing. Nice, very loving thing using deception & fear to drive a point. 2) You delivered your message but at the cost of compromising your integrity–your words are NOT to be trusted for you have intentionally and with forethought used deceptive terms to “hook” a reader to explore your message. And while I agree with the message, and firmly support the effort to address the issue. I deplore the use of deception and fear mongering as a means to justify the end.
Steven, thank you for your honesty. First let me say that I personally wrote this article so it’s on me ( Tj, the lead JACK ). Secondly, let me say I’m sorry for the title I truly didn’t think about the clickbait angle when I did it. By the time it went out and I saw the subject line it was too late, but it was never created out of deception.
Lastly, we have developed almost 300 blog articles and if one ill titled article ruins our credibility and makes us untrustworthy, then that was bound to happen no matter what the article title. These are written by real men, with real struggles and delivered to others who are going through the same.
We’ll take this lesson and get better
Stay Uncommen
Tj, Thank you, thank you, thank you.
1.Thank you for owning it, 2. another thank you for expressing regret, and a 3rd thank you for recognizing and committing to ‘get better’. We all make errors, many b/c we “didn’t think about…” [how could this go wrong? how could this be misperceived/ misinterpreted?] One mistake usually doesn’t ruin one’s credibility or make one untrustworthy, but it does damage. By taking responsibility (owning it), expressing regret, and committing to “get better” you have done an exemplary job of damage control. That, my friend, is what real men do when they err. I tip my hat to you, sir. Well done.