The Contenders

Recently, I took a stroll down memory lane and visited my first blog called “Faithful Wounds of a Friend.” It was fun seeing the different devotionals and entries I posted during the different milestones of my early Christian life. I got a chuckle at how emotional, lengthy, and slightly arrogant many of my entries were. It was a very precious time in my life. The Lord had just saved me and I was learning much about the Bible, and He was using many circumstances to smooth out many of my rough edges. But by God’s grace, He brought me to where I am today. And, thankfully, I found a few entries that I thought I could post on this blog. So for nostalgia purposes (and for a good laugh), I thought I would repost some of these old entries.

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For 500-600 years prior to the Reformation, you have a bunch of single guys running the church. They were Roman Catholic celibates who, unnecessarily, opened the gift of celibacy when they shouldn’t have. No wonder there were so many problems during the Medieval age! You see, it wasn’t popular for spiritual leaders to get married at that time; but Luther’s conversion would spark a reformation not only in Christian soteriology but in Christian marriage as well.

Here is an excerpt from my Historical Theology professor Nathan Busenitz:

On June 13, 1525
Luther married Katherina von Bora
(one of a group of nuns whom he had
helped escape from a convent)
This after he had written: “I shall never take a
wife, as I feel at present. Not that I am
insensible to my flesh or sex (for I am neither
wood nor stone); but my mind is averse to
wedlock because I daily expect the death of a
heretic” (in November of 1524).

Luther was bent on being a “Bachelor till rapture.” It’s not that Luther didn’t want to get married; he chose not to because he thought he could be killed at any moment. He’d rather spare his family from that trouble, so he decided not to marry. However, he did not know that the sovereign God he spoke of would bring into his life a woman that would match his colorful personality, and who would eventually win his heart.

He learned much from his wife and his children;
[and] saw marriage as a great key to sanctification.
[He] Greatly loved his wife “Katie,” whom he often
called his “rib”; [and he] referred to his favorite book of
the Bible (Galatians) as his “Katie”

From this we can see how dear Katie was to Luther. History tells us that he would pick a white rose for her every single morning and then place it in her room (who knew a former monk and nun would get together?!) It was a lively marriage. Both had big personalities. And for the first time in church history, we are finally seeing Biblical marriages being modeled for us.

By no means was Luther a perfect man. His tongue started many fires and everyone hated him for it. But in this I believe he did right. It’s funny how contentment in Christ allows you to be content in singleness and even celibacy. But sometimes the Lord brings someone into your life and He just says, “Nope, you’re going to marry this one.”