MARRIAGE HURTING? GET THE SANCTIFICATION GOING! -- Devotional for January 29, from "Good Seeds"

The unbelieving husband is sanctified through his (Christian) wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her (Christian) husband... (I Corinthians 7:14).

Reading I Corinthians is like reading yesterday's newspaper (or tabloid!) We shouldn’t be surprised to discover that marital strife, separation and divorce have a long and colorful history! Yes, people were not so spiritual in those old Bible days that they never broke their marriage vows. The apostle Paul paints for us the familiar scenario of a mixed marriage. But to be married to an unbeliever and marrying one are two different things. In the first century Christianity was brand new, so nearly every marriage was between two non-Christians. But then the gospel hit town and people got saved. Not everyone, of course, and as often as not the wife would come to faith apart from her husband, or vice-versa. Whenever a third party is introduced into a marriage, doom looms, right? We can almost hear the first century husband’s complaint: “Everything was great until HE came in, and you started giving your first love to HIM instead of to me. Well, I don't like it – I'm outta here!” Christians today have far less justification for this problem because we know marrying an unbeliever is a sure seed of destruction (see II Corinthians 6:14: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has light with darkness?"). But it still happens. And when it does, what are you going to do? File for a divorce? Why not take the Bible cure instead. Today's verse gives the first step. It's not an action, so much as an environment. A husband who is walking with Jesus – praying, loving, giving and serving as only a Christian empowered by the Holy Spirit can do – is going to be a blessing to everyone around him. Same with a godly wife. Though she loves Jesus first, she's going to love her man the way God intended, and he's going to notice, and wonder, “Where did that came from?” She will “sanctify” her husband. Not that this saves him, but when even one spouse is a Christian, the entire home is cleansed, protected and blessed. And that is the first step in fixing a broken marriage: get the sanctification going – and then let God take it from there.