What’s the Payoff?

Why are you standing for your marriage? Would you change your mind if I told you that there are marriages that were not restored before God called one of the marriage partners home? Would you still stand? Are you standing because there is a good probability that your spouse will come home because someone else had his or her marriage restored? What if there was no evidence for any marriages being restored? Would you still stand? Why stand at all for a broken marriage if there is a chance that husband and wife will not reconcile?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1 

I direct your attention to the “Faith” chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 11. This chapter draws upon the people and events of the Old Testament to describe what it means to have religious faith, a faith that is strong and unyielding in the face of obstacles. This chapter describes what faith “does,” not what it “is.” Through faith, God guarantees the blessings that the people hope for, giving evidence that the blessings He promises will eventually be given to them. God holds up great men of faith such as Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham as examples for us to follow.

All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised…  Hebrews 11:13a 

What?!! These great men of faith did NOT receive all that had been promised? How can that be? I thought God always delivers on His promises. How are we to walk in faith if there is a chance that God will not deliver on a promise? Continue reading in Chapter 11…

They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.  Hebrews 11:13b-16 

You see, these great men of faith were looking beyond the promises of God for this earth to His promises of something better, a heavenly city far superior to anything on earth. And so it should be for your stand. You are a sojourner in a foreign land. Your sights should be set on your heavenly reward, the payoff for a life of obedience to God. Standing for the healing of your marriage is the means, not the end of living a faithful life. Your stand proves to God that you will walk in faith in spite of the obstacles and barriers to your marriage being restored. It shows God that you are a man of your word, “to honor, cherish and obey until death separates.”

The stand for a broken marriage should arise from a deep desire to walk in obedience to God out of an incredible love for Him, not because one expects a payoff or reward in this life. Like the great men of faith in the Old Testament, some may have to wait until the next life to receive their reward. However, God will deliver on His promise, guaranteed. The goal of this life is to run the race faithfully that God has set out before you and receive the prize of eternal life. And if God chooses to restore your marriage along the way, all the better!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  1 Corinthians 9:24 

My heart goes out to you in your struggles. I pray for you daily. May you endure to the end and receive the only prize worth having.

God bless you, dear Brother. You are precious in the eyes of the Lord.

God bless,

Dennis Wingfield