Break ups and divorce are hard on everyone.
Through all of this I have seen, I have never seen anyone break up with someone like my loving brother.
My brother and I were playing video games at home when someone called on our house.
It was his girlfriend.
While he was on the phone I whispered, "How long is this going to take? I want to play some video games."
He told me a couple of minutes.
Over those couple of minutes, I saw my brother change in a way I never saw before.
He got a little sad and started to cry as he said "Yeah, I think break up is the only thing that's possible.
My jaw dropped.
He went on to say how he loved her and wished her the best but it might be better if they remained friends.
He cried some more and sure enough in a couple of minutes broke up with his girlfriend and ended the call.
As soon as he put the phone down the tears stopped and he said, "Are we going to play this game or not?"
I was amazed, he fake cried over breaking up with his girlfriend…
ON THE PHONE!
He wasn't fazed at all, I said something like did that relationship mean anything to you?
"No, not really," he responded. "Video games mean more to me right now."
I couldn't believe he ended a relationship like this.
Relationships sometimes end.
I am a child of divorce.
My parents have been divorced a couple of times each.
It's never easy.
It leaves a bad impression and a lot of doubts in kids.
I think about all this as I read scripture this morning and divorce is mentioned in Luke 16:18…
"Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
This is hard scripture, especially with the divorce rate being around 50 percent.
Jesus was talking about how Pharisees have a loose view on divorce. They would condone divorce for no reason sometimes and allow the person to marry another desired women.
Divorce is tough, and Jesus tells us that martial unfaithfulness is the only reason for divorce (Matthew 5:32, 19:1-12).
People struggle with how hard marriage can be sometimes.
There are times when a marriage might not be that great, and there are times when marriage might be just ok or fine.
There are no happily ever after fairytale stories in marriage.
There are times when we have to put our egos aside and do what's best for our spouse or kids.
In a "me first" society that we live in, it's hard to think about other people first.
I have seen divorce because of alcoholism, abuse and cheating from those close to me.
No women should have to deal with abuse in a relationship or cheating and same with men.
Yet the number one issue brought up from divorce is still money.
People want the happily ever after, but don't to do the work to make it this way.
If you are reading this and come from a divorce background, I am sorry.
It's not an easy thing.
We have a forgiving father in heaven.
He is willing to forgive us for the mistakes we make, but we don't have to be stuck in these mistakes.
We can learn from the past and make our relationships better today.
Put down our pride, roll up our sleeves and work if a relationship means anything to you at all.
Jesus still loves us, wants us to improve and be better than the person we were yesterday, last week and last year.
Are you ready to work for the relationships you claim to love?
Have a great day.
