The success of a marriage is solely dependent on the couple’s commitment to it. It has been so in the past and it is still the same today. Commitment is the key to keeping a marriage intact.

There can be a myriad of seeming reasons couples could use to ‘justify’ that their marriage isn’t working out and so to go their separate ways. I have counselled many different people with varied marital problems and one common misconception frequently stood out. They are unrealistically looking for a marriage where there are no differences of views, values or personal preferences. If there should ever be such a marriage, it would certainly be the most boring one. Quite often, I have come across couples who are so different to the point of being completely incompatible that I sometimes wonder why they had gotten married in the first place. Perhaps the opposite attracts but the converse is also true, the opposite attacks!

Moreover, there can never be any perfect marriage between two imperfect human beings (being part of the “fallen race”). Apart from simply being different from each other, we are also very selfish beings. A lot of our marital problems are actually the result of selfish thoughts and actions. Though saved and transformed to be like Christ, it is a process solely dependent on our submission to God’ will. This explains why we are still having so many woes in our marital relationships.

Hence, no counsel or couple skills can guarantee a lasting marriage. Though suggestions like having a “give-and-take attitude” or exercising forbearance may mitigate the problem, they can never prevent a divorce. The most vital component in making a marriage last is COMMITMENT and there is no two ways about it! No matter what happens, the couple must stick with each other and tenaciously abide by the credo “till death do they part”. More importantly, that credo was vowed before God and hence, cannot be rescinded. Moreover, God says He hates divorce – Mal 2:16 and hence, to divorce one’s spouse would certainly incur God’s wrath.