The Truth About Marriage Vows Most People Don’t Want to Admit

We live in a time where people invoke God freely but respect Him selectively. Nowhere is this more obvious than in how marriage is treated. People stand before God, family, and witnesses, speak sacred vows with confidence, and then walk away from them as if they were nothing more than ceremonial words meant for a single day. That is not ignorance. That is dishonesty.

Marriage vows are not poetry. They are not tradition. They are not symbolic gestures for photographs and applause. They are promises made before God Himself. When someone vows to remain with another person through thick and thin, in good health and bad health, until death, they are making a declaration that is supposed to supersede feelings, inconvenience, and personal discomfort.

If those vows were taken seriously, divorce would not be normalized. It would not be casually discussed. It would not be treated as a reset button when things get hard. The fact that divorce is so common is not proof that marriage is flawed—it is proof that people are reckless with promises and dishonest with God.

Many people love to speak about faith when it benefits their image. They talk about God’s design for marriage, moral values, and commitment—right up until sacrifice is required. Right up until patience is required. Right up until self-discipline is required. Then suddenly, the vows are “outdated,” the situation is “too complex,” or they “deserve to be happy.”

Happiness was never part of the vow.

Comfort was never part of the vow.

Ease was never part of the vow.

The vow was commitment. The vow was endurance. The vow was responsibility.

When people abandon their vows because they are bored, dissatisfied, or emotionally unfulfilled, they are not just leaving a relationship. They are admitting that their word means nothing under pressure. Worse, they are admitting that they were willing to lie to God publicly to satisfy a momentary desire or social expectation.

That should make people uncomfortable. It should make people ashamed. Because if a promise made before God can be broken so easily, then what does that say about integrity?

The uncomfortable truth is this: many people should never get married. Not because they are evil, but because they are unprepared for the weight of commitment. There is no shame in choosing not to marry. There is shame in entering a sacred covenant with no intention of honoring it when things become difficult.

Marriage is not a trial period. It is not a contract based on mutual convenience. It is a covenant that demands maturity, self-control, humility, and perseverance. When people treat it lightly, they cheapen something that was never meant to be casual.

This is why words alone are meaningless. Saying you believe in God means nothing if your actions show no reverence for the promises you make in His name. Faith without discipline is just performance. Vows without commitment are just lies spoken out loud.

If this message makes people uncomfortable, it should. If it makes people defensive, that reaction says more than any argument ever could. Accountability is uncomfortable. Truth is uncomfortable. But discomfort is the beginning of honesty.

Marriage deserves respect. God deserves honesty. And vows deserve to be taken seriously—or not spoken at all.