Do Not Try Make Marriage Work, That’s Impossible
I am constantly amazed at how far off I’ve been in my personal perspective on God. During Bible College, though I did not say it in so many words, I believed I really knew God. Though some Christian schools mix secular subjects with biblical studies, we learned scripture all the time. The books of the Bible, church history, Greek, Hebrew, the original manuscripts etc. Comparing ourselves to others, we became convinced of our own manifest greatness.
However, for all our learning, our lives as Christians didn’t seem to live up to our own hype. People around me, as well as myself, constantly talked about trails and challenges. Others, outside of our own church, didn’t think we were all that great either. The church leadership disfellowshipped people who walked in disobedience, yet some continued going to other churches and God used them just as powerfully. So convinced of our own balanced walk before God, we simply could not see beyond our own doctrine. Doctrine, in fact, trumped reality.
Out of the mouth of babes
In the hit movie “The Matrix”, Neo visits the Oracle. While waiting to be seen he speaks with a small boy who holds up a spoon and says,
“Do not try and bend the spoon, that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth…there is no spoon. Then you’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”
This is a powerful truth even though it is set in a science fiction movie. Essentially, the boy is saying that within a certain construct, namely that of Neo’s Matrix generated reality, bending the spoon is impossible. However, if you realize that “there is no spoon”, meaning that the spoon does not exist, then you are free to bend it all you want.
Reality is not what is seems
The reality Mr. Anderson knows (Neo) is a deception, an untruth, an artificial world that, as long as he believes it, binds him to its rules. However, once Neo believes and understands that he is not bound by those set of assumed laws, anything becomes possible. Likewise we, as Christians, are bound by a certain set of core doctrinal beliefs depending on our denomination. Our theological system, like the matrix, is a man-made construct we believe we must follow. Therefore, if someone tells us that anything is possible, we check it with the rules of our belief system to see if it can be done. However, like Neo, the realization that is “there is no spoon” frees us.
Simply realize there is no spoon
Lately, I feel a little bit like Neo waking up to the fact that most everything I think I know is not what it seems. During my Christian development, the leadership taught me many things, encasing me in their world view until I could hardly listen to God for myself. Only as I follow the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit do I realize, “there is no spoon”.
One area that hits me particularly hard lately, is realizing “there is no marriage”. Most people assume, like I did, that marriage is a given. I never questioned holy matrimony, because I assumed God created it. Like the air I breath, I never thought much about it.
Try to realize, there is no marriage
Jesus says,
“But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:”
Luke 20:35
In the restoration of all things, when God makes everything new, marriage does not exist. In the world to come we don’t marry. The “spoon moment” for me is that God never created marriage in the first place, therefore we are not bound by it.
Natural minded men and women assume that if marriage does not exist sex no longer exists either. However, the truth is that there is lots of sex in God’s new creation, it is just that the man-made institution of marriage no longer endures. We revert, as we should have been all the time, to forming spiritual connections and paring as the Holy Spirit leads us.
Breaking free of the lie
Once your realize “there is no marriage” you are no longer bound by the laws that govern it. Suddenly, many things come into focus and other things you thought impossible now seem perfectly feasible. You realize that the story of Romeo and Juliet is, in fact, a play about divine love hindered by natural minded people and tradition. You understand that the term “love child” many times refers to a “God child.” Marriage, being an artificial construct from the mind of man, is more often opposed to the will of God than submitted to it.
Strong puppy love, between young people, is often God trying to pair them as He sees fit. The hit movie “The Notebook” makes this case quite effectively. Attraction to people, other than your natural spouse, may be the Holy Spirit’s way of correcting your rash vow. Some affairs take on a totally different meaning, when viewed from God’s perspective, even if it goes against all convention. Realizing “there is no spoon”, the world around you (the one you thought was so rigid and unmalleable) falls away revealing the truth.
What is the truth?
What is “the truth?” The church sells us a marriage, passing it off as God’s will. Spirit led Christians are no longer bound by the sacrament of marriage, because God never created marriage in the first place. We realize that all we assumed is instituted by God, is in fact the work of natural minded leaders. Natural minded marriage is often opposed to God’s will and prevents us from doing what He wants. The church blesses our nuptials, simply because we declared we wanted to wed. Spirit led Christian’s begin to see holy matrimony for what it really is, an earthly contract with no more chance of success that a common coin toss.
On the other hand, knowing the truth, we realize that God is our matchmaker. The revelation that “there is no marriage” means we are free to do as our Father wills. That man or woman, who pulls on your spirit every time you pass by, the burning in your heart as they talk, is not lust, but God trying to correct a grave mistake you made many years ago. What you assumed was an affair and sin, becomes what it really is: God joining you together with a divine mate of His choosing.
Divine love cleanses the temple
This is divine love which leads to Divine mates. This is the cleansing of your temple coming in a way that you never expected. God with you creates His reality, which is in fact, the only truth. You see clearly for the first time in your life as God frees you from the constraints of a false narrative called holy matrimony. Finally, as you yield to the power of God’s truth, He sets you free.
These and many other “there is no spoon” moments await those who are truly Spirit led. The fact is, the Christian church is diametrically opposed to most everything that is of God. A great deal of what we believe is just as artificial as the Matrix. Realizing the truth, we are no longer bound by the lie.
God turns the lights on
In conclusion, revelation is “a revealing” and it needs nothing more. When you turn on the light in a darkened room, everything becomes instantly visible. God is simply telling us the way things really are. No one has to justify the existence of a table in the room which you did not see when it was dark, it just is.