He Stopped Loving Her Today!…Or Did He?

TheDiscipleMD

I can’t remember the first time I heard it, but I was just a boy when across the radio I heard the silky sound of George Jones’ voice as he told the sad story of a man who had ‘stopped loving her today.’ It took listening to it several times before the real meaning took hold of my mind.

He stopped loving her today

They placed a wreath upon his door

And soon they’ll carry him away

He stopped loving her today

This poor man had just died and only then had he stopped loving a woman he had so desired. But even as a boy my heart understood that he had not stopped loving her. He had just moved his love into another realm of existence.  And I wasn’t convinced that the closing words of the song were true when George Jones crooned:

You know she came to see him one last time

Oh and we all wondered if she would

And it kept running through my mind

This time he’s over her for good

On the contrary, as I grew to adulthood and married my wife I knew that placing a wreath on someone’s door didn’t terminate that person’s love. No, as our bodies are lain in a coffin, our love for others is not bound to the box wherein our clay bodies lie.  This divine and eternal love escapes with our souls. Not only is love eternal, but so is marriage. While most people believe it, only one church preaches it or has it as a doctrine. Yet, the scriptures testify that whatsoever is bound on earth, can be bound in heaven.  Isn’t that what the Savior said to Peter as recorded in the gospel of Matthew. Their conversation is recorded:

‘And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ (Matt. 16:13–19.)

Indeed, the Lord gave the apostles authority that whatsoever they bound while on the earth, could be bound in heaven. What a glorious doctrine to believe in the eternal nature of love, which is best expressed through the bonds of marriage. When married by the proper authority, we don’t have to ‘stop loving her today.’ The thought of being separated from my wife would certainly ‘prey upon my mind’ as recited in Jones’ haunting song. However, my testimony is that the authority to bind our love has been restored and that those couples that obey the commandments and keep the covenants they have entered into with the Lord can enjoy the fruits and blessings of sharing their eternal love in a marriage relationship that lasts beyond the grave.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7) the Savior told the people while giving His masterful Sermon on the Mount. Of this I too would charge all men. Seek ye this doctrine of eternal marriage and you will find the fulness of happiness that the Lord promised to all of His faithful followers.

 

 

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