How God Can Use a Miserable Marriage

Most of you know my passion for classic writings. I’ve said so many times that reading outside of my century and even tradition can open my eyes to perspectives I’d never hear otherwise. And this morning, something John Calvin wrote five hundred years ago just blew me away. He creates an entirely new understanding to help us think through the ramifications—and perhaps even blessings—of a difficult marriage.

If memory serves, John Calvin was married for only a decade. It was a happy marriage by all accounts, but his wife died too young, as wasn’t unusual in the sixteenth century. But far from making him bitter, his wife’s death reminded Calvin of an amazing spiritual truth.

Let me set this up.

In a long section from his Institutes (this is from Book III), Calvin details the need we have for adversities. He doesn’t say we simply need to accept adversities, trials and disappointments, but to realize how much we need them to mature and maintain our focus. One of the benefits of adversity is God’s aim to “wean us from excessive love of this present life.” We can and should enjoy this life, appreciate this life, and thank God for this life (Calvin makes this clear when you read the larger argument). But an excessive love for this life blinds us to the glory of the next life—and that’s a trap we must avoid, but wouldn’t avoid unless God all but forced it on us, which he does through tribulations.

Continue reading over on Substack HERE.

The post How God Can Use a Miserable Marriage appeared first on Gary Thomas.