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If remarriage is a sin, why are remarried couples often blessed?

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You surface a difficult dilemma--why does God continue to bless people who seem to be living outside of His will? The question is complex and we're certainly only guessing at answers. Proverbs is loaded with rhetorical questions: Why do the righteous suffer and why do the ungodly prosper?

Part of the answer rests in the character and nature of God. He does not base all of his blessings on our obedience. In fact, the existence of common grace indicates that God even blesses the unbeliever beyond what he “deserves”--See Matt. 5:45. God prefers the world not to operate on a cause-effect equation, that if we are good He will bless and if we are bad He will withhold blessing. Instead, he wants us to acknowledge that blessings are His alone to distribute--with no strings attached.

On the other hand, divorce for unbiblical reasons is a sin that can be repented of. And repentance after remarriage does not mean getting a divorce; it's a change of heart. I often say that God's will is for you to stay married to the person you're presently married to--even if that marriage was born outside of God's will (i.e., remarriage after unbiblical divorce). God may be blessing a penitent sinner--which describes most of us.

That leads back to the dilemma, and the terminology we use to describe it: God blesses all of us despite our sin, never because of it. I think that's the best I can do!

Related Topic: Marriage

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