43 Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
John 11:43-44, NLT
Marital infidelity kills marriages.
It does this by striking the heart of this covenant relationship–namely, fidelity. Without such fidelity, trust is undermined and safety is jeopardized. The marriage will never be the same after such a violation.
This is why I do not talk about reconciling marriages but rather resurrection of marriages.
Following marital infidelity, it is not a remodel. Rather it is a complete gut job and rebuild project. It is a dead marriage that takes a miracle for it to live, again–i.e. a resurrection.
I say this to acknowledge the gravity of the damage done by marital infidelity. Often, it is underestimated due to a perverse desire to “save marriages.”
Personally, I believe in God’s power to resurrect people. In fact, I have heard of modern instances of this. However, I have never witnessed such a miracle, yet.
I say this to make the point of how rare such true resurrections are. They CAN and DO happen, I believe. However, they are far from the norm. That is the definition of miracle. It isn’t the natural course of things.
Yes, plenty of people stay together after infidelity discovery. That does not mean they’ve experienced a marriage resurrection, though. Many are simply propping up a dead “body”–so to speak.
We are all better when we face reality and walk in the truth even if that is a harsh truth.
Not until we acknowledge the truth that marriage infidelity kills marriages can we even leave the door open to the miracle of marriage resurrection. After all, again, what is needed is a resurrection, NOT a remodel!
