Divorce and remarriage
by Charles Bertelsmeier
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Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Luke 16:18).
Read Luke 16:10–18
Why would I pick this passage for our devotion today when there were much safer subjects in today’s reading? Well, for starters, both my current wife and I were divorcees when we were married some years ago, and this was a passage we had to come to terms with. The passage is seemingly unambiguous and comes from the mouth of Jesus himself. So, there is no wriggle room.
For this devotion, I also bravely searched the internet for inspiration and discovered lots of discussion on who fitted into the categories of those who could never marry again because of divorce. I found discussions on who could find wriggle room to squeeze out of these categories. I felt that much of this was very legalistic and not in the spirit of the God I have come to know. Yes, God has very high standards, and there is no option for divorce (and, therefore, remarriage) in God’s perfect plan.
When my first marriage broke down, and we eventually divorced, I did commit myself to be single for the rest of my life. (Looking back, I think part of the reason was also my guilt at failing to make my marriage work.) I found a group of loving Christian friends (or they found me), and through these relationships, God matured me in my relationship with him. But all the time, I kept fending off any attempts by women to develop a romantic relationship with me. But God seemed to have a different idea. First, he brought Diane into my life. Then, God organised for a Christian friend to give me a lecture on the practicalities of God’s forgiveness and grace. He stressed that when God forgives, the past is forgotten; in God’s eyes, it is as if it hasn’t happened. While he was haranguing me, the Holy Spirit was lovingly convicting me that the failure of my marriage was no longer on his mind. Jesus had dealt with it on the cross, and it was buried with Jesus in the grave. Unknown to me at that time, God was also working in Diane’s life to bring us together.
After we got married, we still had to deal with many issues from our previous relationships, but we were also able to provide more stability for our respective children. There were ways God grew us through being in our relationship that may not have happened if we both had stayed single. And we came to understand more personally about God’s grace and mercy.
So, back to Jesus’s words. The context was that he was speaking to the religious and legal rulers who loved playing legal games by adding their own interpretations and providing legal loopholes for themselves. Jesus just cut through to God’s clear plan.
Heavenly Father, as hard as we try, we just keep failing to live up to your standards. Thank you that Jesus took all these failures on himself to the cross and grave, and they are all still buried in the grave. Amen.
Charles is a retired engineer who has worked on communications projects for the air force, army and navy. He lives in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney with his wife, Diane. Together they have four children and eight grandchildren with whom they love spending time. He keeps himself busy with pot plants, a community vegetable garden, researching his family history and volunteering in the community and at LifeWay Lutheran Church.
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