God’s love and grace is unlimited.  Man’s is not.

Readership: All
Theme: Boundaries
Length: 500 words
Reading Time: 3 minutes + 2 antacid tablets

This post will explore one unfortunately all too common example of The Law of Sowing and Reaping — the bitter consequences of sin in marriage.

Under Holding Out (2022/12/2), StudentRay57 wrote,

“I don’t want you the way you want to be wanted.”  Wreched Jezebel.  I struggle in my prayers, she despitefully uses me and yet I must forgive 7 × 70.  I choose the Narrow Way.”

The 7 × 70 figure comes from Matthew 18:21-22.

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV)

Would Jesus’ answer have been any different if Peter was asking about his wife?

How literally should we take the words of Christ here?

70 × 7 = 490

If transgressions happen every other day, that will last about 2 years, 8 months, and 10 days.  That’s about the length of the Honeymoon phase after marriage.

If transgressions happen every 5.2 days (or about once every week), that will last about 7 years, which is the point at which most divorces occur.

These calculations could be taken in jest, but if not, could it be that these crumblings in relationship quality are precisely because even (man’s) forgiveness has a limit?

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Not to be legalistic, but realistic.  Are you able to pay the cost of forgiving others?  How many times can you forgive a person you’re married to before you lose all trust?  At what point does it become clear that there will never be any repentance and that you’ll just be an ignominious punching bag for as long as the contemptuous cohabitation AKA “marriage” continues?

It is natural for Men grieve when their wives divorce them.  But on a more positive note, maybe these wayward wives are inadvertently doing their husbands a huge favor by releasing him from the burdens of perpetual forgiveness with never a favorable response, and allowing him to reclaim the remainder of his life for a more noble cause other than to be a bitter cat lady’s ATM litterbox for the next 50+ years.

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Proverbs 21:9 (NKJV)

The same sentiment also appears in Proverbs 21:19, Proverbs 25:24, and Proverbs 27:15. That’s 4 times, just in case you missed one! And don’t forget the Sirach. Take an antacid before you read.

Give her another 10 just to go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41) and make it an even 500 just for old time’s sake.  After that, why not let her have what her actions deserve — the hell that she’s been working towards for years, and the wrath she has heaped up for herself?

But wait… wouldn’t it be more “responsible” to nip it in the bud? So where does a man draw the line?

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