Andy Griffith died Tuesday morning at his home in North Carolina. He was 86.

One of my favorite memories involving him occurred in the 1970s when I was pastor of a small church in Kentucky while attending college. We had a lock in for the youth…about 30 of us spending the night in the church basement playing silly games. At about 4:00 am when everyone was getting “giddy” we watched the 1958 movie “No Time For Sergeants” staring Andy Griffith as Pvt. Will Stockdale. It’s a funny movie, but at 4:00 am with 30 giddy teenagers it is really funny. I can still hear the laughter.

The 86 year old actor was famous for his roles in “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock.” He warmed people’s heart with his folksy characters and the positive themes in many of his shows. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is a member of the Television Hall of Fame.

In 2007 he was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He received a Grammy Award for his 1996 album “I Love To Tell The Story – 25 Timeless Hymns.” His wife, Cindi, described him as “a person of incredibly strong Christian faith” who “was prepared for the day he would be called Home to his Lord.” He was baptized alongside his mother at age 8 and as a young man had considered being a preacher. In his final years he said, “I have tried to walk a Christian life…And now that I’m getting older, I realized that I’m walking even closer with my God.”

I didn’t know the man and I don’t know his real story. All I know is his public story. That story is mostly positive and one most people think of warmly. However part of his real story is that Cindi was his third wife, Griffith having been divorced twice.

The reality is that being a Christian is not enough to have a successful marriage. It helps…a lot! It helps because our relationship with Christ motivates us to be better people and to understand that selfishness diminishes love. It helps because of our oneness in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit within each of us. Yet faith in Jesus does not guarantee marital bliss. That requires work and commitment and growth and forgiveness and many other things. It is so much easier to be and do all those things when we are growing in our faith, but faith alone is not a “magical” something that automatically makes someone a great husband or a great wife.

I trust that Andy Griffith was a genuine believer and we know that his last marriage did last 29 years. But his talent and his faith were not enough to keep two marriages from ending. It takes more than talent and faith. That is true for me and you as well. I pray that all of us are committed to doing the right things and being the right kind of person so that our present marriages will last a lifetime.

Pastor Steve Hogg