Church’s response to divorce

The scripture is very hard on divorce. God understands the destructive power it has. When you take the image of Christ and the church and destroy it, devastation will occur. And in his love for us, God is hard on divorce in order to protect us. And we can’t be light with it. The Bible teaches that in most cases, excommunication is required for the offending party. And if we love the person, we need to follow through with church discipline and strong teaching. However, in my heart, my primary blame for divorce is not with those couples who get a divorce, for them my heart is broken. I believe the primary promoter of divorce in the church is often the church (at least in general). There are some churches that do an amazing job in this area, but in general the church is not teaching enough on how divorce is an affront to the Gospel. And in general, the church has lost a proper fear of God when it comes to divorce. And more importantly the church is not being gospel oriented in meeting the needs of those struggling in marriage. Marriage is hard. There must be church discipline, but if you sit in judgment on those who are going through a divorce, be aware, you are sitting in judgment because you don’t understand your own heart. Staying married is difficult. As a church we should have compassion on marriages that are struggling. The church should be a place where a couple can come, be honest with where they are at, and say, “We don’t want to stay married. We don’t see any other way out, but divorce” and be surrounded by people who will run to them with open arms, love them, and say, “You are right, you cannot do it, but this is what the Gospel is for, and we are here for you and will love you through this”. We must be hard on divorce, in love, the scripture demands it. But it also demands that we take the plank out of our own eyes, that we don’t sit in judgment, and that we strongly present the Gospel in these situations. We walk alongside them, and we pray for God to deliver them. The scripture calls us to compassion and charity. The church should be a place where the struggling, the weary, the broken, and the downtrodden are met with the Gospel. God is Holy and God is patient with us. With divorce we must have a proper fear of God, a fear that does not allow us to back down on the horridness of divorce and a fear that drives us to compassion for those who are struggling, because except for the grace of God, I also would be going down a horrible path. If divorce is prevalent in the church, it is because as a church we need to understand the Gospel more and the fear and amazing love that come with it.