If Christ Applied For Divorce

I read this Samuel Butler quote earlier in the week, and given the society we live in where 60% of marriages end in divorce, I was absolutely struck by the truth behind it:

“If [Christ] were to apply for a divorce on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion, he would probably get one.”

His mercy, love and grace toward us (his bride) truly, truly is amazing in the context of the society we live.  Like Hosea’s wife we are far beyond simply being wayward. We are lost, helpless, hopeless.  We are always turning our backs on our first love but for some reason he remains by our side.  I am humbled by this thought, that he died for me, for my sins, all my sins, for all time.

He loves me, and even though I still sin, he sticks around.

He takes it.

He bears it.

He loves, he looks past and bids me to come to him.

If Christ applied for divorce, if he said “Enough is enough!” and walked out, I would have nothing to stand on, no recourse, he is in the right and I am in the wrong.  He would be granted that divorce, both by the law of our land, and by the law of God. Glory to God for his mercy!

Amazing grace!

Mercies unknown!

Soli Deo Goria.

Pray this Puritan Prayer with me:

O Lord,

Thou knowest my great unfitness for service,

my present deadness,

my inability to do anything for thy glory,

my distressing coldness of heart.

I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable,

and loathe and abhor myself.

I am at a loss to know what thou wouldest

have me do,

for I feel amazingly deserted by thee,

and sense thy presence so little;

Thou makest me possess the sins of my youth,

and the dreadful sin of my nature,

so that I feel all sin,

I cannot think or act but every motion is sin.

Return again with showers of converting grace

to a poor gospel-abusing sinner.

Help my soul to breathe after holiness,

after a constant devotedness to thee,

after growth in grace more abundantly every day.

O Lord, I am lost in the pursuit of this blessedness,

And am ready to sink because I fall short

of my desire;

Help me to hold out a little longer,

until the happy hour of deliverance comes,

for I cannot lift my soul to thee

if thou of thy goodness bring me not nigh.

Help me to be diffident, watchful, tender,

lest I offend my blessed Friend

in thought and behaviour;

I confide in thee and lean upon thee,

and need thee at all times to assist and lead me.

O that all my distresses and apprehensions

might prove but Christ’s school

to make me fit for greater service

by teaching me the great lesson of humility.

Amen

Romans 5:12-21 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.