Sacred Vow

Hello everyone, if you are reading this on the release day, then I would like to wish you a peaceful Sabbath, filled with the hope in Jesus’ return to make all things new.

This week’s film review is for the film “Sacred Vow,” written and directed by Rob Diamond.

Film Description (source: www.imdb.com)

The couple, after a brief affair by him, he has decided to get back with his faithful wife but will it be too late? It may, but you should view the movie; it is not wise to divulge too much.

The beginning of the film has the husband, Doug, reflecting on how he had had it all, and Doug was speaking of a biblical marriage, not worldly possessions. One line caught my attention. Doug said, “I searched for it all and got more than my soul could bear.” This sounded simple, yet I reflected on it. Searching for worldly possessions opens us up for sin, which is more than we can bear. We are not equipped, by ourselves, to deal with sin. It has a devouring quality. It is never enough and so no matter how strong or wise we think we are - when we seek sin, it will at some point or another, become more than we can bear. This reminds me of Matthew 16:26: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

We are shown a scene from the wedding of Doug and his wife, Amber. Their vows were not that different to the vows many people take, but there were some extra things said that stood out for me. Amber’s vow included things like, to cherish the union. The word cherish, according to the Oxford dictionary, means, to love somebody/something very much and want to protect them or it. The Websters dictionary goes further, “to keep or cultivate with care and affection” and it has the word nurture as the synonym. Amber vows, through tears of her own, to laugh and cry with Doug and to love him faithfully, irregardless of obstacles - as long as they both shall live.

Doug’s vows included the words solemn vow. The word solemn, was coupled with the word, oath, in the Webster dictionary. Synonyms for solemn are words like grave, serious and earnest. Doug also promises unconditional love.

Doug mentions that he felt like they were unstoppable. That also caught my attention. Unstoppable - incapable of being stopped. It makes sense why Doug would use such a powerful expression. When Doug and Amber married they were both Christians with strong faith in the Lord. They were unstoppable, because they looked to the Lord to give them the love and grace they needed to cherish one another.

The film shows that Amber never strayed from her vow. Doug did, as the description reveals, he had an affair. Doug mentions that the grass is never greener on the other side. You keep your grass looking green by watering it - which goes back to the action to cherish or nurture.

Doug says something to his mistress that I found interesting. He mentioned how he needed to get to work, as he had to earn money to pay for the place he was renting to spend time with her. He said, “Love didn’t come cheap.” This scene shows how Doug had gone from the perfect and free love of God, through Jesus Christ, to worldly love, that had the high price of sin.

The film depicts all the superficial reasons people are drawn to adultery. Doug mentions boredom and falling out of love with Amber as his reasons for breaking the vow he made to be a faithful partner and give her unconditional love. The film depicts how Doug was driven by emotion, which is hard to control by ourselves. It reminds me that if God can command us to love, then love is not a feeling, as we can’t command a real feeling into action. Love is an action and that action is seeking the source of perfect love, to be filled with the perfect form of love we need to give to others - that perfect source of love is God.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says, Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

The film switches between scenes of Doug’s adultery, his reflection on his vows and Amber’s reflections. We also see scenes with Doug and his mistress, who seems determined to encourage Doug to walk away from his vow and his family, ironically to become Doug’s wife. The mistress assures Doug that everything will be fine, once he leaves his wife. She represents what society is trying to teach us: Divorce is another event in life, vows can be broken, and if you have not stood before God and made solemn vows, under His blessing, then the union may well be more like a contract, that can be discarded. But as the Bible says, God invented the covenant of marriage (Genesis 2:24), and we see Doug reflecting on the meaning of marriage, as God created it to be.

There are many powerful scenes in this film. One of them is Doug assuring Amber that the financial settlement he had in mind would leave her and her daughter, “well taken care of.” He didn’t understand at the time that “well taken care of” would have been standing by his vow to his wife and taking care of his family by being a faithful husband and father.

There is another scene when Doug’s mistress asks ludicrous questions, such as:

Do you still have feelings for her (meaning Amber)?

Are you being intimate with her?

These questions were asked with anger and a sense of betrayal and just shows, as Doug later reflects on, how sin makes lies look like the truth. Doug’s mistress took on the role of the betrayed wife, accusing Amber of all kinds of things, when she was the one living the lie and intent on destroying a marriage. This reminds me of what Jesus tells us about Satan, John 8:44 says, He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

We see tender scenes of sacrificial love, in the early days of Doug and Amber’s marriage, when Amber works two jobs to put Doug through college. We see them leading a very simple life. Amber came from a wealthy family, yet she gave all that up to marry Doug, who came from an unstable life of foster homes. The greatest thing they had in common was their faith in God, through Jesus Christ.

The wonderful thing about this film is Doug’s reflection and realization that he had been fooled by the devil, who swooped in when Doug’s faith became weaker. It was a slow, but brutal fade. Doug didn’t wake up one morning and decide to put his faith to the side or cheat on his wife. He realized that the day to day compromises went unnoticed, until the actions of his wife made him see how far he had strayed from the path of faith. Doug called his adultery an addiction and acquainted it with shame.

Interestingly enough, Doug called his wife’s attempts to save their marriage a “cruel waste of time.” But the true cruel waste of time was the time he had spent giving away his precious loyalty, devotion and physical being to a woman that was not his wife.

The film made sure to relate the promise we have from 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

There is a lot more going on in this film, but as the description says, you should view the movie; it is not wise to divulge too much.

Would I change anything about the film?

Amber described their wedding day as magical. The word magical, comes from the word magic, which is not biblical. It’s a well used word and some Christians don’t think twice about using it, as they equate it with something spectacular and not of the occult. It would have been better to use blessed, to give glory to the Lord.

Did the film encourage my faith?

Most definitely. Marriage is the highest relationship on earth, besides our relationship with God and Jesus Christ, so it needs a special kind of focus and priority in our everyday lives. Doug’s reflections were uplifting, although the whole situation was sad, and all too typical of the world we live in. Nevertheless, the marriage vow is uplifted and God’s love, faithfulness and grace shines through the pain and suffering sin causes.

SUMMARY

Sacred Vow is a tender film about our choice to make a vow, and be united, with God in marriage. A choice that must have God and Jesus Christ at its center, in order to survive the ravages of a sinful world. 1 Peter 5:8 says, Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Marriage is a representation of the relationship Christ has with the church, which is why, vows taken without being joined by God, according to His word, cannot be called a marriage. As Marriage is a representation of the relationship Christ has with the church, it’s no wonder why Satan spends a lot of his time attacking marriage and the family unit that is produced through marriage.

Ephesians 5:22-32:

22 Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are parts of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Sacred Vow shows us how easy it is to not see who the devil is using to attack us, whether it be in marriage or otherwise. But as the devil is behind sin, we should be on guard and aware, by God’s grace, of who or what the devil is using, to attack our marriages. Sacred Vow depicts correctly that our only protection is with the Lord, who gives us grace, mercy and amazing love, with the promise of eternal life in His sinless Kingdom, thanks to Jesus Chirst, our Saviour.

I watched, Sacred Vow via www.tubitv.com. I would like to take the opportunity to say that tubitv.com is free. They have many faith based films, but few of their films, in relation to their selection, are true to the Word. So stay tuned for more suggested films from tubitv and other film streaming websites, that True to the Word has measured against the Word of God.

Thank you for reading this review. I pray that the Lord bless and protect your marriage, as He has promised in His Word, and I also pray, if you are not married, that the Lord according to His will, bless you with marriage in the future.

Until next time - peace be with you.

Resource Information

Source for film and thumbnail:www.tubitv.com/

NB! The links I reference for my films is the source I used, but it is not an endorsement of the entire film streaming company.