{"id":83,"date":"2026-06-10T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=83&2026"},"modified":"2026-06-08T20:15:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:15:26","slug":"how-god-sees-them-matthew-19-1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/how-god-sees-them-matthew-19-1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"How God Sees &#8220;Them&#8221;: Matthew 19:1-12"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 19:1-12 (NCV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\"><p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">1<\/sup> After Jesus said all these things, he left Galilee and went into the area of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River.\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">2<\/sup> Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">3<\/sup> Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to trick him. They asked, \u201cIs it right for a man to divorce his wife for any reason he chooses?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">4<\/sup> Jesus answered, \u201cSurely you have read in the Scriptures: When God made the world, \u2018he made them male and female.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">5<\/sup> And God said, \u2018So a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one body.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">6<\/sup> So there are not two, but one. God has joined the two together, so no one should separate them.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">7<\/sup> The Pharisees asked, \u201cWhy then did Moses give a command for a man to divorce his wife by giving her divorce papers?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">8<\/sup> Jesus answered, \u201cMoses allowed you to divorce your wives because you refused to accept God\u2019s teaching, but divorce was not allowed in the beginning.  <sup class=\"versenum\">9<\/sup> I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman is guilty of adultery. The only reason for a man to divorce his wife is if his wife has sexual relations with another man.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">10<\/sup> The followers said to him, \u201cIf that is the only reason a man can divorce his wife, it is better not to marry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">11<\/sup> Jesus answered, \u201cNot everyone can accept this teaching, but God has made some able to accept it.  <sup class=\"versenum\">12<\/sup> There are different reasons why some men cannot marry. Some men were born without the ability to become fathers. Others were made that way later in life by other people. And some men have given up marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. But the person who can marry should accept this teaching about marriage.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 19:1-12&amp;version=ncv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 19:1-12<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Before diving into this passage and the one big idea I want to focus on, I want to emphasize that this is a challenging passage for many people. A lot of people who have experienced divorce in their lives can look on this passage as God condemning them for their actions. I don\u2019t have much to say about this \u2013 since this is something that everyone must work out with God personally\/individually. I may write my thoughts on how I see this passage relating to divorce in a future post, but instead, this post will focus on a big idea for those who are married or are currently in a long-term relationship.<\/p>\r\n<p>In verse 6, we read the following phrase, \u201cGod has joined the two together\u201d. I know there are countless things that have happened and choices that were made that directed me to moving to Idaho where I would meet my bride-to-be. It seems as though God is working behind the scenes to direct people together. I could make my head spin trying to think of what may have happened had I made different choices regarding my schooling, major, and direction after college, but whatever the case is \u2013 whether there is only one match or several great candidates along a variety of different paths, the passage states that God is present in the relationships that I have \u2013 especially in my marriage.<\/p>\r\n<p>Here\u2019s the big idea, stated in the form of a question: <strong>If I believe that God brought people into my life for a reason <em>(including my spouse)<\/em>, would I treat them differently?<\/strong> <\/p>\r\n<p>And an equally challenging follow-up question: <strong>If I believe that God loves my wife enough to die for her and that it hurts Him when I hurt her, would I treat her differently?<\/strong> <em>(Feel free to swap genders if you need to.)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>God brings people into our lives, and in many cases, not all of them are pleasant. Some might be downright annoying at best, and one (hopefully not more) of these you might have ended up marrying. <em>(Disclaimer: This is not my marital situation, but it seems to be a common theme in culture.)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>However, have you ever stopped to think that Jesus loves \u2013 and He died for \u2013 those annoying people too? It isn\u2019t just the pleasant people that Jesus loves, but the unpleasant ones too. If we are really being honest with ourselves, we might be that annoying person to our spouse. We might be closed off to them when they are looking for love, or harsh with them when we are really upset about something unrelated in our own lives.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>We can only change ourselves, and our actions. We cannot change others. However, <em>with the thought that God brings people into our lives, and that He loves them enough to have died for them, would that be enough to change my attitude and actions towards them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--83\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '83');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before diving into this passage and the one big idea I want to focus on, I want to emphasize that this is a challenging passage for many people. A lot of people who have experienced divorce in their lives can look on this passage as God condemning them for their actions. I don\u2019t have much [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How God Sees &quot;Them&quot;: Matthew 19:1-12 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/how-god-sees-them-matthew-19-1-12\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How God Sees &quot;Them&quot;: Matthew 19:1-12 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before diving into this passage and the one big idea I want to focus on, I want to emphasize that this is a challenging passage for many people. 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