Happy marriages seem so rare.  It is commonly stated that fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, and that statistic gains more power in gossip about unhappy marriages – heard about Melinda and Bill Gates?

What are the actual facts?  It is true that 45 percent of all marriages end in divorce, but by far most of those divorces are by people who married before the age of eighteen, who dropped out of high school, who had a baby together before marriage.

Clearly, the biggest subset of broken marriages were fractured from the start.

Another fact: most married people are actually happy!  All surveys show that the number of married people who say they are “VERY Happy” – not just “Happy” – in their marriages is quite high: about 62 percent.

Even more startling – longitudinal studies show that, for those in marriages they call, “Unhappy,” when they are polled again five years later, they now rate their marriages as “Happy.”  They hang in there and resolve their problems.

Yet, our children and grandchildren don’t know this happy story and are pessimistic about marriage.

And they especially don’t know the happy news about Christian marriages.  Marriages that are based on faith are Good News!  Christian marriages have the power of Christ to make us better people.

A Christian marriage is not between perfect people.  But it is the union of two people who humbly submit themselves to Christ’s power to change their behavior and hearts.

Aren’t we all hungry for the kind of love that makes us better people?  This Sunday we’ll explore the “secret” ingredient of great friendships and marriages, as we continue our sermon series, Hungry and Human.

P.S. It’s the 35^th Anniversary
of John’s and my wedding. . .
so we know a little
about that “secret.”