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I Made My Wedding Vows to the Wrong Person
Forty years ago today, I said my vows to the wrong person. The vows were good – “I take Janet to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health” – I just shouldn’t have said them to her. I am writing this today to keep others from making the same mistake my wife and I made.
God takes vows seriously. Ecclesiastes warns against going to the house of God and making hasty vows (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). We were not hasty; we had dated for a year and a half. While no one knows exactly what to expect, neither one of us expected to admit we made our vows to the wrong person. Despite that, I am still thankful for the last forty years.
If you are wondering what this is about, notice etymology of the word vow – “a promise to God”. Forty years ago, like many others, I made vows to my spouse in the presence of God. What if we started making vows to God in the presence of our spouses? How powerful is that!
“God, I vow to You that I will take Janet to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and in sickness and in health. I will keep these promises made in her presence but made to You”.
God created marriage (Genesis 2). Ecclesiastes 5:4 continues, “fulfill what you vow”. Forty years later I vow to God, that I do, I will, and I shall.
(Millersville church of Christ)
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