Marriage is an important institution in our society that was designed by God. Unfortunately, the divorce rate is above the 50% level and there is untold heartache as a result, not just for the marriage partners but their children as well. I have often wondered what the root cause was. The stated reasons are infidelity, lost of interest, fights, work, money etc. but those are not the root cause.
I was reading A.W. Tozer's, The Pursuit of God, and in it he states that man elevates himself in place God. In other words, he is a god unto himself. The self is all important and drives behavior. He does not need God. Could this not be the root cause for divorce when one marriage partner focuses on self? From the outset of our relationship, Lauri and I have tried to make the Lord the center of our relationship, the unshakeable foundation. I am not perfect and have more than my share of selfish moments whereby I chose to focus on me and not the Lord or Lauri. I have wondered in my mind how I can adequately convey our conviction through analogy, i.e. "on the same page", "two peas in a pod", etc. But none of them seemed to quite capture my feelings. Enter Tozer. He was speaking about Christian unity, yet the following spoke to me about marriage (this is the piano bit) ... " Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are autoomatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard (God's standard which is perfect and perfectly good) to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers together, each on looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship." Marriages tuned to the piano of God WILL be productive, satisfying, and enjoyable, not to mention pleasing to God. This is the single best piece of advice I can give those entering into relationship with one another.
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