By now most of us know about the 50% divorce rate statistic that is out in the world to let all of us know, especially Christians who are included, that marriages have a high failure rate.  As someone who is recently married, I have come to understand some of the challenges involved in maintaining and growing a healthy marriage.  Each couple has their own set of difficulties that have the potential to make that union stronger or weaker; it all depends on the choices made, adaption and conflict resolution.  In any case, what I have begun to notice is the lack of overall commitment in marriages today.  As a matter-of-fact, there seems to be an overall lack of commitment in this day and age in general.  It seems as if people aren’t interested in staying the course, working things out or honoring their vows.  It’s like everything has to feel good or else at the first sign of trouble people bail.  It’s actually a little disheartening and I’m not referring to relationships ending due to abuse.

As people of faith, being committed is pertinent.  God wanted the Israelites to be committed which is why, I would surmise, that God wanted to be number one and didn’t want idolatry (Exodus 20); and likewise,  Jesus asked for the disciples to follow him and he didn’t give an end date, nor did he say it would be easy (Matthew 16: 21-25).  Commitment is vital.  Its vitality rests not only in marriages, but in other relationships, in promises and words, in faith, and so on.  Making sure that we honor our commitments, being especially careful to be led to and choose something worth committing to, is a must.  And if we’re honest, if we flipped the script, we would want someone to honor their commitment to us too.