What do Dead Animals and Marriage Have in Common?

I have had the privilege of walking through premarital counseling with a couple these past few weeks. It’s a privilege for me because I have the opportunity to experience the covenant relationship with this couple without being married myself. While it’s foreign territory for all of us, it’s often the case that we meet God in foreign territories. So I am writing this article, as a single person, expecting God to show up, even in the foreign territory. Whether you’re married or not, Scripture gives all of us an understanding of what a healthy marriage should look like.

I happen to be presiding over a wedding this coming weekend, and also in another wedding this weekend as the best man, so weddings are on my mind. In particular, 1 Corinthians 13 is on my mind. If you were at U-Nite on Tuesday, you heard this passage.  1 Corinthians 13:5-7 says:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Honestly, I am tired of hearing this scripture read at weddings. It seems cliché. But there is always something new to understand with God’s Word. For me, the part that says, “Love keeps no record of wrong” has been ringing in my head for the past couple of months. I realize in my own personal relationships, I struggle in how I do a great job of keeping records of wrong.  However, it seems our world is stuck in this very same trap. All we tend to do is keep records of wrong. Every single political ad or commercial is nothing but a record of the wrongs done by the other party. So not only am I keeping records of wrong in my own life, I am seeing it everywhere else, too.

Maybe the reason the world doesn’t know how to not keep records of wrong is because we, as Christians, have not truly demonstrated what that looks like, and our marriages don’t often give a good example either.  Meanwhile, keeping no record of wrong is the very thing Christians should do best, since the central piece to the Gospel is God keeping no record of wrong. All of us have a very long record held against us, yet because of Jesus, our records can be expunged. 

This is one of the reasons why marriage is so significant. It should be an example to the world of how God loves us. Unfortunately, Christians and non-Christians have the exact same divorce rates. There are, of course, a myriad of reasons why that is, but I believe one of them is that we are not good at keeping no record of wrong. We are not great at showing forgiveness though we have been forgiven greatly.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is an incredibly obscure passage in Genesis. In chapter 15, God and Abraham solidify a covenant together that God will take care of Abraham’s descendants. Though the covenant itself is important, how the covenant is contracted leaves me crying every time I read it.

Abraham cuts up some animals in half and places each half on either side of a pathway. While this may seem weird to us, and it is, the point of it was to say, if either of us breaks the covenant, may it be to me as it is with these animals. So, Abraham cuts the animals up, places them on the road and as He is about to pass through them, God shows up as a lamp/torch. God puts Abraham to sleep, and then God passes through the animals. And this doesn’t really seem like much to us, but theologically it’s beautiful. God said to Abraham, regardless of whether I break the covenant or you do, I’ll take the punishment. Even if you are the one that has wronged me, I'll take the punishment.

Fast-forward a couple thousand years, and God shows up on a cross, spread open just like those animals. God fulfilled His promise. He kept no record of wrong. Not only did He keep no record of wrong, He took the punishment that was due to Abraham and his people. He took the punishment that we owed. This is the gospel, the good news. In Jesus, there is no record of wrong for us.

This was a covenant relationship with Abraham and God, and truthfully, marriage is the same covenantal relationship, or at least should be. You stand at the altar as if it was a pathway with animals on either side, and the vows that you make are, “May it be to me till death do us part.” It’s a covenant that says even if you screw it up, I will be here, I will endure, I will forgive, and I will not hold it against you. That is love. That is who God is. That is marriage. That is the gospel. 

I don’t know where you are on this journey. Maybe you need to know the good news, that faith in Jesus Christ leads to no condemnation. God holds no record of wrong against you. Maybe you have forgotten the covenant God made with you through Jesus, and you need to stand on that pathway again and remember what God has done for you. Are you dating and thinking about marriage? Work toward that sacrificial and selfless kind of love. Did you recently get married? Remember to hold no record of wrong. Have you been married for some time? Encourage others along, and be encouraged that your marriage has the ability to present the gospel to others and impact marriages and relationships around you.

God walked the pathway so we didn’t have to. He holds no record of wrong, so go and do likewise.