When marriage is in the news, it’s almost always bad news. Marriage laws are being challenged, marriage benefits are being eliminated, and marriage definitions are being stretched beyond recognition. Marriage seldom finds a good home in the movies, on TV, or in popular music. Concepts like “waiting till marriage” are viewed with ridicule or derision, and reports about abstinence seem skewed to focus on failures. We’re trained to expect most families to be one-parent households, even though 62 percent of American children live with both biological parents (EP News).

Much of the bad news we hear contains information we need to hear. It would be foolish to close our eyes to the pollution of marriage’s sanctity. And we want everyone to know that God can redeem our fallen lives. But we should resist the temptation to dwell on negative statistics. Understanding that one is walking in darkness is important, but such awareness combined with a lantern in hand is far ...