The World's Longest Married Couple

Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher of New Bern, N.C., hold the world

record for life in wedded bliss: 85 years. He's 104, and she's 101.

I thought this was adorable. It's amazing how many singles these days are longing for God to send them a mate or longing for a life-long companion, a partner a HUSBAND (or wife for my fellas).

What a lot of singles do not realize is that marriage is a partnership, it's a life-long commitment to another person through thick and thin, good times and bad. There is no running away or deciding you made a mistake once the "I dos" have been exchanged in front of all your friends, family and God. God does not smile upon divorce.

This is why it's important as Christians not to dabble into the dating scene too much. We become conditioned to the "NEXT" syndrome when there is something we don't like about the person or they do something to that irks our nerves.

Getting wrapped up in the dating scene conditions us to become "professional divorcees," and only encourages us to find a mate, see what we like, what we don't like and move on. The "til death do us part" vow is a very serious vow in the eyes of God and til death do us part means just that, not until one of us cheats do us part, or until one of us goes broke do us part, loses an arm, loses a job, etc.

Zelmyra Fisher still gets around with a walker, and Herbert loves to watch the Atlanta Braves on TV. They credit their marital success to faith in God, a loving family and few big fusses over their long span of marriage.

The Fishers dabbled in social media by tweeting their secrets to a long, happy marriage for Valentine's Day last month.

The Bible has a high view of marriage. It is to be a lifetime plan, not a convenience that can be disposed of in a lawyer's office. The love of husband and wife is, at its best, a hint of the deeper love between a human being and God.



Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
Hebrews 13:4


Drink water from your own well -- share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don't share it with strangers.


Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. May you always be captivated by her love.
Proverbs 5:15-19


The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the LORD .
Proverbs 18:22


The apostle Paul, who was single, recommended the single life for people like himself, dedicated to God's service. But Paul was realistic enough to know that most people, no matter how deep their faith, were better off married than facing the temptations of the single life:


Because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.


The husband should not deprive his wife of sexual intimacy, which is her right as a married woman, nor should the wife deprive her husband. God gives some the gift of marriage, and to others he gives the gift of singleness.


Now I say to those who aren't married and to widows -- it's better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust.
1 Corinthians 7:2-3, 7-9


Paul also addressed a ticklish situation: What if a Christian's spouse is not a Christian?


Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. And if a Christian woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the Christian wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage.

Otherwise, your children would not have a Godly influence, but now they are set apart for him. (But if the husband or wife who isn't a Christian insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not required to stay with them, for God wants his children to live in peace.) You wives must remember that your husbands might be converted because of you. And you husbands must remember that your wives might be converted because of you.
1 Corinthians 7:12-16


As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 5:21-33