I said it as a matter of fact, “So I guess you’re not getting divorced now.”
“No, I’m still getting divorced.”
It surprised me, but I felt that being a new Christian he simply hadn’t put the pieces together yet. I explained to him that as God reconciled us to Himself despite our sins, He wants a man to seek reconciliation with an adulterous wife.
William said that his pastor told him that because she committed adultery he could divorce her. I couldn’t believe how lightly he took the idea of divorce; well, she committed adultery, so now I can divorce her. I figured his pastor must not know the situation. He must not realize that William did not even offer reconciliation.
I was used to seeing non-Christians divorce each other, because that’s the world’s idea of a solution, but it was unbelievable to see someone divorce his wife in the name of Jesus. William told the others in our warehouse about Jesus and how to be saved, and at the same time he talked casually about divorcing his wife.
I felt that I had to stop him. It was hard to see a man punish his wife and child with divorce, especially in the name of Jesus. I felt compelled to keep Jesus’s name clean of this. I could not allow William to lie to our co-workers about Jesus. We had serious discussions. At one point William was in tears. At another point I gave him a paper entitled, “certificate of divorce,” and subtitled, “This ends our friendship, divorce is the answer to our problems.” I drew a line below for him to sign. He got the hint. He smiled and said, “No, I’m not signing that.”
One day, he received a phone call indicating that Gina was ready to sign the divorce papers. He was so happy; he kissed one of the guys on the back of the head. Everyone laughed except for me. I couldn’t believe he was celebrating divorce.
When William saw my reaction, he told me not to worry. He said that she probably didn’t mean it.
She did not sign the papers at that time, but William heard that Gina planned to have him come back to her so that she could show that she could get him back and then “dump” him.
Let’s suppose that this were true. Let’s say she wanted him to come back to her so that she could be the one to divorce him. If that were true, he would lose nothing by taking his wife back. He could only gain.
Instead he chose to play the same game. He made the relationship into a pride trip. He wanted to pay her back for the things she did to him.
