Divorce is a common thing in many nations nowadays, destroying the lives of many husbands, wives, and children left in its wake.
A quick search for divorce statistics on the internet yields sad results. As of January 2018, the U.S. has a divorce rate of 55%, Spain has a 63% divorce rate, and Belgium has a whopping 71% of marriages ending in divorce.
What this means is that more children will grow up in broken families and will grow older carrying with them the hurts and wounds of having divorced parents, hurts that will affect their own future marriages unless they allow God to heal them.
Christian parents, then, should do their best to pray and find Biblical ways to prevent divorces from happening.
If you're a married or single Christian who desires to fight against divorce and prevent it from happening.
Here are a few things Christian couples can do to prevent divorce:
1) Love one another
If couples would only love each other, there'd be no need for divorce. Couples who truly love each other with the love of God won't even think about it.
Ephesians 5:22-25 tells wives and husbands,
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her."
God-fearing Christian couples will not want divorce. This is because God Himself hates it. Malachi 2:16 tells us,
"For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence..."
2) Forgive each other
One of the reasons why couples decide to separate themselves from each other is hurts, offenses, and unresolved bitterness.
As such, couples must decide to forgive each other always, and be forgiving even when the offense hurts really bad.
Ephesians 4:25-27 tells us that we should be honest with each other, and be forgiving towards one another. Forgiveness doesn't allow room for bitterness in our hearts.
"Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil."
Couples must also resolve to not keep lists of one another's faults, failures, wrongs, and sins.
1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us that love "does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked," and "thinks no evil." If we truly love our spouses, we will not meditate on our spouses faults and treat them rudely in light of them.
3) Serve one another
Lastly, couples should commit to serving each other and thinking about personal needs last.
Since love "does not seek its own" as mentioned above, couples will do well to throw selfishness and self-centeredness down the drain.
If we want to love the way Jesus did, we've got to learn to deny ourselves and take up our crosses -- to silence our selfishness, and put our God-given responsibilities on our shoulders as we follow Christ.
"Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." (Ephesians 5:33)
