Do you have an exit strategy?

All this talk about war, leaders, and politics is really starting to make sense to me. I'm not here to write about whether or not we should have gone to Iraq. I have strong beliefs that the church should stay out of positions on politics (not to say I don't have my own views, I just wouldn't talk about them from the platform on Sunday). I just think that a lot of who we are as a culture is reflected in our attitudes toward marriage, dating, and even war.

For instance, we all know that the war in Iraq is not going very well. Even the president has admitted that it is a real struggle. I just find it interesting that there are so many people calling for immediate withdrawal now. It isn't isolated to our problems in the middle east, either.

Let me put it this way: when I was in high school, it was very common for some to date someone until you had enough of them and leave them. One moment you were madly in love, the next you hated the person and never wanted to see them again. There really weren't any lasting repercussions when you took off. You got bored, tired, or just plain moody and it was over. If you didn't like the way it was going, you got out. No biggie.

Fast forward to adulthood. Our society is full of people who fall for someone, get married, get tired, bored, or just plain fed up and they move on. In fact, it is common nowadays (especially in NJ and other well-to-do areas) to go into a marriage with an exit strategy, a.k.a. a pre-nup. When you steamroll into town quickly, take over the center of someone and things go easily, you're thrilled to be in the thick of it. One day, the emotional insurgency starts--possibly even a civil war of emotions rages--and you find yourself wondering how you can get out as quickly as possible...maybe it was all a big mistake... maybe you should have never entered into the engagement. Now you're stuck in a mess, but you always have that option to take off and leave... just like high school... those were the days.

Man, am I glad God doesn't work like that. From the beginning of time, God wasn't trying to figure out a way to get out of his relationship with those He created. He was trying to find every way into a relationship. He was SO intent on sticking with us and never forsaking us that He even came here in the flesh and gave up His heavenly rights so that we might come to know Him... intimately... for eternity. Now THAT is commitment.

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" Hebrews 13:5b-8

Which brings me to my point: don't allow this world to sway you into viewing your relationships--your marriages--the way we view military conflict. God never intended marriage to have an exit strategy. He intended it to be an amazing, rewarding bond. He didn't say it would be easy though. Sometimes our sin nature surges forward and threatens to rip our families into all-out faction civil war. It is those times that we need to remember why we got in there in the first place--and to remember who our Leader is: a steadfast, ever-loving example of what commitment and sacrificial love really is.