Faithful And True

Faithful and True

Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

Deuteronomy 7:9

“It is easier in these United States to walk away from a marriage than from a commitment to purchase a used car,” said an attorney at a conference we attended. “Most contracts cannot be unilaterally terminated; a marriage commitment, however, can be broken by practically anyone at any time, and without cause.”

He is right. A friend of ours went to traffic court, where he heard two divorce decrees from the judge before his turn came to be heard. He dropped by our office later to tell us about his experience. He said, “I told my wife when I got home that we could have had a divorce any number of times if those reasons I heard in court were good enough for a legal separation.”

The “till death do us part” of marriage is not merely an ideal. It is a reality that is insured by an unswerving commitment—a willful agreement to keep love alive. “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” asked the prophet Amos (3:3, NIV). Commitment is the cerebral part of love. It is the part that comes more from our minds than our hearts.

Why do so many marriage commitments fall flat these days? We believe it is because too many promises are made without the promises of God. We can “hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (Hebrews 10:23). Our commitment to each other in marriage is sustained by God’s model of faithfulness to us. When a man and woman covenant with one another, God promises faithfulness to them (see 1 Corinthians 1:9). There is no way to overemphasize the centrality of commitment in God’s character. It is woven into every part of the Bible—from Genesis, in which God initiates his promise of faithfulness, through Revelation, in which John’s vision depicts a white horse, whose “rider was named Faithful and True” (19:11). Allow God’s faithfulness to infuse your marriage covenant with staying power.

A covenant made with God is not restrictive, but protective.

—Russell M. Nelson