When Jesus walked on earth, He advised His disciples to count the cost before deciding to become His disciple. Walking with Jesus wasn’t going to be easy; they would have to stand against everything that contradicts Him: even their own parents if it came to that. And Jesus was brutally honest about it. He told them to “count the cost.” He compared this scenario to an entrepreneur who set out to build a high tower, but who only had a fraction of the money needed to complete it, and thus the whole venture failed – resulting not only in time wasted and financial loss but also ridicule from people.
Every day, millions of people go to the altar to pronounce sacred vows before God and man. They vow to hold each other dearly until death do them apart. Churches today encourage young people to get married, but they don’t encourage them to “count the cost.”
To love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, pledge all my worldly goods, forsake all others, till death do us part.
When recited in the presence of God, those words carry exceptional weight and power and should not be trivialized. However, every day, people go up to the altar with deceit in their hearts and recite those vows in the presence of a living God. Some of them know fully well that they don’t mean to uphold those vows. Some of them do it for money, property, migration purposes, or some other opportunity or convenience. Some of them don’t even love the person to whom they pledge those vows before a living God.
Perhaps some of these people believe there is no God; or that God will forgive them. Maybe He will; after all, God is a God of love and forgiveness, slow to anger and quick to forgive, but whether He forgives them is a deeply personal matter between them and God and relies deeply on the level of repentance and the original intent. Even so, lying in the face of God is something that shouldn’t be gambled with.
The bible tells us that God “hates divorce” and this is what adds even greater weight to those words spoken before the altar. The bible further warns us that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God. As humans, we must think twice before lying in the face of a living God. He knows our hearts and reads every thought.
Maybe you’re under pressure to get married. Perhaps society is pressuring you, your parents are pressuring you, your church or pastor is pressuring you, or you yourself feel the need to get married. Marriage is a good thing, as Jesus says, “what God put together, let no man put asunder.” However, before going to the altar to say those sacred vows, make sure you count the cost and mean every word.
