Marriage — Does This Generation Have What it Takes?

Dan Haseltine, lead singer of the group, Jars of Clay, has written a moving and insightful article on marriage and the power to last. In “Longevity,” published in the current issue of Relevant Magazine, he writes of observing his grandparents and their marriage.

I watched my grandparents hold hands and walk together. They are most definitely from a different generation. They have seen the invention of computers, cell phones, MTV, chemical warfare, strip malls, Nazi Germany, cable TV, rock ‘n’ roll, the civil rights movement, the rise of heroes and the fall of heroes. And they held hands through it all.

He wonders aloud if our current generation is up to this same level of marital commitment. “There seem to be more ‘Christian’ marriages that dissolve slowly or end quickly,” he observes. He also lamented Christian counselors who “tell couples that the situation they are in is just too corrupt to be reconciled.” Where is the Gospel in that?

Looking around the culture — and more importantly, the church — Haseltine remarks, “I am aware that we just don’t see the Gospel account of marriage as valid anymore.”

An honest evaluation of the current state of marriage among Christians reveals that his assessment hits too close to home. Furthermore, he expresses this tragedy just right — “we just don’t see the Gospel account of marriage as valid anymore.”

That’s not where he ends, however. Remembering his grandparents once again, he concludes: “Theirs is a legacy that illuminates grace, mercy, pain, and redemption. I hope more people from our generation will find this veiw of marriage to be worth the fight.” I join him in that hope.