❤️📖 FROM THE HEART | 05/22/2026 | Stay Together | Pastor Erton Köhler
Have you noticed how fast we move? We live in an age of instant connections. We click, swipe, connect, and just as quickly, disconnect. It feels like we are living in a culture where everything has become “disposable”: cups, trends, and, tragically, relationships too.
Recently, I was deeply moved by a tradition from the Republic of Poland. Did you know that in that country there is a special presidential distinction called the “Medal for Long Marital Life”? It is awarded to couples who have remained married for at least 50 years. The medal features two intertwined roses resting together on a simple silver field. If a country honors 50 years of faithfulness to a promise, how much more does Heaven honor a lifetime of faithfulness?
In Scripture, family is not a cultural invention; it is a divine creation. Marriage is not a human tradition; it is a sacred gift. Commitment is not merely a social expectation; it is a spiritual calling. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Marriage is more than a legal contract; it is a spiritual union.
Recent reports show that in many developed countries, marriage rates have fallen by nearly 50% since the 1970s. Even more striking, 25% of 40-year-olds in the United States have never been married — a historic high. In a world like this, the church cannot be only a building where we meet on Sabbath. It must become a refuge where commitment is celebrated.
In our worldwide family, hope is still alive. Churches are organizing mentoring teams that connect older married couples with younger ones. In Bangalore, India, Adventist Family Ministries held seminars with more than four hundred couples. In Latvia and Lithuania, congregations organized weekends dedicated to family well-being. Mission is not only what we preach from the pulpit. Mission is what happens in the living room.
May your home become a refuge of peace. May your relationships become testimonies of grace. Heaven still honors perseverance.
About the Series
From the Heart is a weekly devotional series in which Pastor Köhler reflects on what it means to be rooted in the Word of the Bible and focused on mission, together and personally. Each episode is based on the four pillars of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s strategic plan: communion with God, identity in Christ, unity through the Holy Spirit, and mission for all.
The series connects biblical faith with everyday life and shares brief reflections and insights into how God is working through Adventists around the world.
Pastor Erton Köhler is president of the General Conference of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.
