29 KEEP YOUR MARRIAGE VOW; YOU’RE IN A COVENANT, NOT A
CONTRACT

“Contracts are made to be broken,” the businessman advised me. I was appalled. But then I considered how most couples regard their marriage as a contract, not a covenant. What’s the difference?

A contract has provisions for being broken.

A covenant is lasting.

A contract is a bilateral agreement.

A covenant is trilateral—God, husband and wife.

A contract makes provisions for termination.

A covenant lasts a lifetime.

A contract has terms and rules.

A covenant is based on relationship.

A contract protects one’s rights.

A covenant surrenders rights to God.

A contract anticipates possible failure.

A covenant provides for success.

A contract initiates in good faith.

A covenant initiates in love.

People break contracts all the time. But God keeps spouses in covenant through His power, love and forgiveness.

Try this: Regard your marriage as a covenant, not a contract. Refuse to ever speak the “d” word to one another—divorce.

The LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth…
she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

Mal. 2:14 NAS