Marriage = 1+1

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Song of Solomon 6:4-8:4

TO CHEW ON: "There are sixty queens
And eighty concubines
And virgins without number.
My dove, my perfect one,
Is the only one..." Song of Solomon 6:8,9


The TV trailers are full of intense conversation and emotion between four women and one man. The scene usually ends in one of the women dissolving into tears. I'm talking about Sister Wives, the TV reality show about a polygamous marriage that looks nothing but painful.

Our society supposedly frowns on multiple marriage partners. Yet our actions show us to be hypocritical. Books, shows, and real life are full of adultery. The use of pornography (a type of unfaithfulness), is rampant not only among men and women but even teens.

Though the Bible contains many examples of polygamy (Solomon being its most numerous polygamist - 1 Kings 11:3) its ideal is monogamy.

• God instituted marriage between one man and one woman when He formed the first couple - Genesis 2:24.

• Moses' instructions to Israel's future king was "neither shall he multiply wives for himself..." Deuteronomy 17:17.

• Malachi 2 talks about being faithful to "the wife of your youth."

• Jesus referred to God's plan of one woman being joined to one man in Matthew 19:4-6  and quoted Genesis 2:24.

• Paul's instructions to a leader was that he was to be "the husband of one wife" - 1 Timothy 3:2.

I like how Leslyn Musch sums up the Song of Solomon's message about satisfying one-man-one-woman marriage:

"Faithfulness, verbal affirmation, friendship, romantic getaways, working through conflict, and availability are but a few of the keys given in the Song of Solomon to building a godly marriage. It is not Solomon's life we are to examine for instruction in a godly marriage. However, this Song—God's inspired picture of what a godly loving marriage can be—invites us to reach toward it wholeheartedly" - Leslyn Musch, Truth-In-Action through Song of Solomon, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p 868.

PRAYER: Dear God please help me to stay completely faithful to my husband and to work at making my marriage the best it can be. Amen.

MORE: "10 Reasons not to have sex outside of marriage"

Though the heading above is the title of an article written for the not-yet-married person, many of its reasons also apply to  extramarital relationships. A few of them are:

- We will be physically healthier.
- We will be emotionally healthier.
- we will be spiritually healthier.

Read all 10 reasons and the scriptures to back them up HERE


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A vixen in the palace

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 6:14-29

TO CHEW ON: "Because John had said to Herod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.' Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not." Mark 6:18,19

Herodias was a female force to be reckoned with in Herod's palace. Our reading today paints a picture of her as:

• a seducable woman. She let herself fall for Herod even though she was married to his brother Philip.

• an influential woman.  She instigated Herod's arrest of John. Later her daughter came running to her for advice about what to ask for after Herod promised the girl anything following her dance routine.

• a bitter, revengeful woman who held against John the fact that he had denounced her illicit union with Herod.

• an opportunistic woman, who recognized and seized the chance to get back at John.

• a ruthless woman who demanded John's death by beheading.

Guess what—I've seen many of these evil qualities in myself. Oh, I haven't acted on them to the extent Herodias did, but have, to my shame, known myself to hang onto bitterness, imagine revenge scenarios. I have seized opportunities to get back at a person and slipped in snide asides to sway my husband and kids...

I would submit tha there may be a little of Herodias in most of us.

An attitude that is impervious to sensuous flattery, forgives wrongs, leaves revenge in God's hands, and responds with humility to criticism (deserved or not) does not come naturally to me or most of us. The Herodias in us is someone only God can change.

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." - Ezekiel 36:25-27

See also 2 Corinthians 5:17 and 1 John 1:7-9

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to put to death (i.e. crucify - Galatians 2:20) the life of carnal emotion and response that rises naturally within me. Amen.

MORE: Wisdom about women and wives

From Solomon (who had his share of experience):

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful women who shows no discretion." - Proverbs 11:22 NIV

"A wife of noble character is her husband's crown,
but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." - Proverbs 12:4 NIV

"Houses and wealth are inherited from parents
but a prudent wife is from the Lord." - Proverbs 19:14 NIV

"A quarrelsome wife is like
a constant dripping on a rainy day'
restringing her is like restraining the wind
or grasping oil with the hand." - Proverbs 27:15,16 NIV

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A slide into sin

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Samuel 11:14-27

TO CHEW ON: "In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah." 2 Samuel 11:14

In the saddest of ironies, loyal and principled Uriah is returned to the battlefield carrying his own death sentence. David, in our reading today, acts more like a mafia boss than a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

This is the same David who wrote;

"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness…" - Psalm 4:5

"You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You" - Psalm 5:4.

"You have tested my heart;
You have visited me in the night,
You have tried me and found nothing.
I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress" - Psalm 17:3

etc.

How does he find himself here? It doesn't happen overnight but is a slide
- from duty avoidance, idleness, boredom  (2 Samuel 11:1)
- to letting his eyes linger on what is not his (2 Samuel 11:2)
- to fantasy followed by adultery (2 Samuel 11:3-4)
- to an attempt to cover up the pregnancy that results by bringing Uriah,  Bathsheba's husband, home from the battlefield, urging him to sleep with her, even getting him drunk, and when that doesn't work out (2 Samuel 11:6-12)
- to murder (2 Samuel 11:15).

If esteemed David can fall like this, how vulnerable are we? Apostle Paul warns New Testament Christians in 1 Corinthians 10 of exactly this descent into sin (1 Corinthians 10:6-11). Let's let his warning and advice to the Corinthians ring in our ears:

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it - 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (emphasis added).

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to recognize my first wandering steps from You as the beginning of the slide that they are. Help me to find a way out of temptation at its earliest stages. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

What your speech says about the state of your heart

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 15:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "'But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.'" Matthew 15:18

I wonder if the Pharisees ever regretted criticizing Jesus' disciples for their non-hand-washing? The hand-washing they were talking about was part of Jewish oral tradition which had developed into a set of extra rules to help preserve the integrity of the law. The hand washing here was not for cleanliness but was a religious ritual (J. Lyle Story, notes on Matthew, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1317).

Jesus, recognizing this clash as a teaching moment, went to great lengths to explain to His disciples how silly this rule was in the scheme of things. Food that was touched and brought to the mouth with unwashed hands was soon eliminated, He said. But the real defilement came from what issued out of their mouths in speech. That originated in their thoughts - Matthew 15:17-19.

And here all of us, listening in these many generations later, are implicated. Who of us hasn't entertained thoughts of one or more of:

• murder (hatred - 1 John 3:15)?

• adultery?

• fornication [porneia compare pornography. Illicit sexual intercourse… The word describes both physical immorality and spiritual, signifying idolatry - Dick Mills, Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1318 -- emphasis added]?

• thefts?

• false witness (lying, non-verbal deception)?

• blasphemy ("slanders" - NASB) [Blasphemia: 1. Slander, detraction, speech injurious to another's good name; 2. impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty]?

And so we agree with the prophet who said: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked—who can know it?" - Jeremiah 17:9.

And we echo the confession of Paul: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" - Romans 7:24,25.

PRAYER: Dear God, before I disdain the scribes and Pharisees, I'd better examine my own heart for the defilement living in me, proved by my speech. Thank You for Jesus' blood that washes away my sins. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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