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Authors: Mary and Michael Miklosovic, from the Word of Life in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

What hardness of heart does

In the gospel according to Matthew, we read that Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:3-6)

Jesus goes back to the beginning by telling the Pharisees that in the beginning God created them; man and woman he created them, in his image he created them. The two become one. Such intimacy! It carries within it a foreshadowing of the infinite. Along the way sin comes in, failings occur, disappointments overcome, and the life of God is diverted. So, man makes excuses and adjustments and because of his hardness of heart, “til death do us part” gives way to “man will cast asunder.” Yet, made in the image of God, this man and this woman were created to live as one ’til death! God is the third member of the relationship. He is the consoler and healer; he is love and the giver of grace bigger than all our weaknesses and failings, the softener of hard hearts. In him we can never be defeated.

Ask yourself today: How can I lean into God’s grace in helping me have good relationships?

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.