See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Colossians 2:8-9

A week or so ago, the Daily Devotions spoke of the house arrest of the astronomer Galileo. In that devo we tried to lay to rest the long-standing, and altogether false opinion, which said God's people are always narrow-minded when it comes to accepting the truths of science. Instead of this old "belief," we shared research that said scientists were partially responsible for silencing Galileo.

This week we lay to rest a number of other wrong things, which everybody believes. On that list are

1. fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce;

2. most ongoing marriages are unhappy, and

3. Christian marriages break up with the same regularity as that of unbelievers.

Well, my friends, it's all baloney.

That is the fact-based position of Shaunti Feldhahn, a Harvard-trained researcher. Feldhahn did her research -- eight years of research -- and found out that

1. the actual divorce rate has never gotten close to 50 percent, and

2. those who regularly go to church have a significantly lower divorce rate, and

3. most marriages, that is, four out of five, are pretty happy.

And where did those original, false figures come from? Feldhahn says they "came from statisticians who, years ago, projected that if things continued on unchecked, they might be true sometime in the future." Well, according to Feldhahn, these guys and gals were wrong, and so is everybody who takes their conjectures and promotes them as being factual.

Now all of this is good news for believers who have been getting clobbered for years by such wrong numbers and false accusations.

Because of Feldhahn and other fact-finders, we are able to confront the skeptics and the scoffers and say, "We husbands may not love our wives as wonderfully as Christ loved the church, but with Jesus we're still doing a far better job than the world does without Him."

We should not be surprised. Anyone who has taken a look at the life of the Savior has seen how He showed His love and taught us to love others. He taught us how to forgive and encouraged us to do the same. His life showed us how to make sacrifices for others, and He prayed that all who followed Him might reflect a similar, loving picture to this sinful world.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, in the early centuries of the church, Tertullian imagined unbelievers looking at Christians and, in awe, saying, "Look ... how they love one another." Grant that the love we have received from the Savior may be a witness we make to this unbelieving world. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 130-132    1 Corinthians 1

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