“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13, NIV).
As I was thinking about how we are supposed to live out the relationships in our lives, specifically our intimacies, romances, and marriages, I thought of the sage wisdom that most of us learned from watching the Andy Griffith Show.
Then it dawned on me the reasons as to why everything in Mayberry was always so quiet, so peaceful, and so harmonious. The reason was… NOBODY WAS MARRIED!
The single people in the show were: Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea, Opie (but he really doesn’t count), Floyd, Howard, Goober, Gomer, Sam, Ernest T Bass, the Darlin Family, Helen, Thelma Lou, Clara, and even Juanita the telephone operator.
As a matter of fact, about the only person that was married was Otis… and he stayed drunk! What does THAT tell you about that happy little town?!
On the one hand, I suppose that Mayberry could show us how important marriage is. Nobody was going to take the plunge until they were convinced the time was right… no matter how long it might take. But you also noticed that everybody respected each other, they stood up for each other, and nobody slept around – whether single or married.
While I have spent many years loving and laughing at that wonderful piece of television history, I find myself longing for such virtues on current TV shows. We watch loved ones fight and we call it comedy, we see them commit adultery and we call it personal freedom, we cheer for the winner who won only because they backstabbed their friends to win, and we applaud unmarried couples raising children and call them brave.
There are many who would call the people of Mayberry naïve and behind the times. But before we condemn them to a past that many regard as no longer relevant, we need to take an inventory of where our values come from. The question is, when it comes to our relationships, whose model do we serve? God’s or our own? And, why? And where does that lead us?
Family tragedies happen, to be sure. Most of us know all too keenly how our relationships can be good, bad, and ugly. But even in the worst of situations, God has a plan of redemption.
In the Bible verse above, we are led to understand that God is the only true author of LOVE, as He Himself IS Love! And, we must reconcile ourselves to understanding that if we submit to His model of relational love, then it’s not a matter of what He won’t allow us to do, it is a matter of WHAT and HOW He INTENDS for us to BE IN LOVE. There is no better or greater way to walk through our relationships than with God at the foundation.
David McCall
Executive Pastor
