Husband and Wife: Keep God in Your Marriage

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7: 27

Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.

Scripture Commentary: Men, a wife won’t solve your problems. Likewise to women, a husband won’t solve yours.

Many people naively think that marriage will solve their problems. Here are some problems marriage won’t solve: loneliness, sexual (and other) temptations, satisfaction of one’s deep emotional needs, and elimination of life’s difficulties.

Marriage alone does not hold two people together. Commitment does – commitment to Christ and to each other despite conflicts and problems. As wonderful as marriage is, it does not automatically solve everything.

Whether married or single, we must be content with our situation and focus on a relationship with Christ before we can pursue a successful relationship with others.

Paul urges believers not to regard marriage, home, or financial security as the ultimate goals in life. As much as possible, we should live unhindered by the cares of this world, such as burdensome mortgages, budgets, investments, or debts that might keep us from doing God’s work.

A married man or woman must take care of earthly responsibilities, but they should make every effort to keep them modest and manageable. Keep Jesus in your marriage. God bless you both.

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Corinthians Chapter 7

Let Christ Set You Free

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 7: 5-6

Commentary:

Sinners are condemned by the law, the law keeper can’t live up to it, and the person with the new nature finds his or her obedience to the law sabotaged by the effects of the old nature. When a person dies to the old life and belongs to Christ, a new life begins. Unbeliever’s mindsets are centered on their own personal gratification. Those who don’t follow Christ have only their own self determination as their source of power.

People try to earn their way to God by keeping a set of rules, attending church, doing good deeds, and obeying commandments. All they earn for their efforts is frustration and discouragement. Keeping the rules, laws, and customs of Christianity doesn’t save us. Jesus Christ will free you to serve him out of love and gratitude. Christ’s love will truly set you free, from merely any external code. We now serve not by obeying a set of rules, but out of love for God. Let the reality of Christ’s power lift you up to real victory over sin. Christ who has conquered sin, promises to fight by our side.

The Holy Spirit Will Guide You to Understanding

“In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

John 16: 16-18

Commentary:

Jesus was referring to his death, now only a few hours away, and his resurrection three days later. What a contrast between the disciples and the world! The world rejoiced as the disciples wept, but the disciples would see him again (in three days) and rejoice. The world’s values are often the opposite of God’s values. This can cause Christians to feel like misfits, as some may feel today. Remember, until Jesus died and was raised from the dead, we did not have direct access to God the Father. The disciples didn’t fully understand the promise Jesus made until the Holy Spirit came after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then the Holy Spirit revealed truths to the disciples that they wrote down in the books that now form the New Testament.

In the New Testament it is the Holy Spirit guiding us in the truth about Jesus Christ. The Spirit also helps us through patient practice to discern right from wrong. Christ’s death made a personal relationship with God possible.

Are You Confirming Scripture or Conforming it?

Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly – and indeed you do bear with me. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows! For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 11: 1, 10-14

Commentary:

First get your Bible and read chapter 11 entirely. In this chapter Paul felt foolish rehearsing his credentials as a preacher of the gospel. The Corinthians, like some of us today, fall for smooth talk and messages that sounded good and seemed to make sense. We have with us today great eloquent speakers with an authoritative sounding voice who contradict God’s word. Beware! Satan and his servants can deceive us by appearing to be attractive, good, and moral. Many unsuspecting people follow smooth talking, Bible quoting, leaders into false worship. Don’t be fooled by external appearances.

Our impressions alone are not an accurate indicator of who is or isn’t a true follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ask questions of yourself, like does the speaker confirm scripture or conform scripture? Does he or she proclaim that Jesus Christ Messiah came into the world to save us from sin, died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God, His Father, and will come and judge us. A false teacher teaches for his own glory, not the glory of God.

God Never Abandons

Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4: 14, 17, 18

Commentary:

“For we walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5: 7.

We have not seen Jesus, but we know he lives. We feel the wind, but we do not know where it comes from. The disciples had Jesus with them and at times even they didn’t understand. When we go through this life with all the ups and downs, at times we ask why. Paul reminds us that though we may think we are at the end of the rope, we are never at the end of hope. Our perishable bodies are subject to sin and suffering, but God never abandons us. All our risks, humiliations, and trials are opportunities for Christ to demonstrate his power and presence in and through us. No matter what happens to us in this life, we have the assurance of eternal life, when all suffering will end and all sorrow will flee away. (Isaiah 35: 10)

The Power of the Tongue

Scripture: James 3: 1-7

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider that a great forest is set on fire by a spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.

Scripture Commentary

What you say and what you don’t say are both important. Proper speech is not only saying the right words at the right time. But it is also controlling your desire to say what you shouldn’t. Before you speak, ask, “Is what I want to say true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”

Hold on to the Everlasting

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

1 Peter 23-25

Commentary:

We were in the world living what we believed was a good life, doing what we wanted to do. We were in some cases lost because we were not living as God intended. But through the Grace of God we were reborn. That seed in us that was in sand is now planted in Our Lord Jesus Christ, in good spiritual soil. Now, with God’s love, we can take our eyes off of ourselves and see and do for others. God loves us so much, that he sacrificed his son for us. We are no longer a slave to sin. Peter reminds us in these verses that everything in this life – possessions, accomplishments, and even people – will eventually fade and disappear. Only the word of God is permanent. Stop grasping the temporary things and focus on Jesus Christ.

Don’t Be a Slave to Sin

In the same way, count yourselves dead in sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Romans 6: 11-14

Commentary:

“Count yourselves dead to sin” means that we should regard our old sinful nature as dead and unresponsive to sin. Because of our union and identification with Christ, we are not longer obligated to carry out those old motives, desires, and goals. So let us consider ourselves to be what God has in fact made us. When we were under the law, sin was our master – the law does not justify us or help us overcome sin. We have a new start, and the Holy Spirit will help us become, in our daily experience, what Christ has declared us to be. Without Jesus we would have no choice, we would have to apprentice ourselves to sin. The results would be guilt, suffering, and separation from God. Thanks to Jesus, we can now choose God as our master.

Jesus Freed Us

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions, that were under the first testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Hebrews 9: 13

Commentary:

When Jesus went to the cross and died and was raised from the grave. The need for sacrificing animals was removed. As well as the need for someone to ask the Father to forgive our sins. In the Old Testament this was done once a year by the high priest for the people. But Christ, through his death, freed us from the slavery of sin forever. His sacrifice is infinitely more effective than animal sacrifices. With the dead of Christ there is no point in returning to the sacrificial rituals. Christ shed his blood for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to experience spiritual death and eternal separation from God. Jesus is our source of life, not death. With what Jesus did for us, death has no hold on us. We are free.

Faith Has Greater Worth Than Gold

Scripture: 1 Peter 1: 3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Scripture Commentary: Our faith has greater wealth than gold!

Do you need encouragement? Peter’s words offer joy and hope in times of trouble, and he bases his confidence on what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Our faith has greater wealth than gold!

We’re called into a living hope of eternal life. Our hope is not only for the future. Never-ending life commences when we trust Christ and join God’s family. No matter what pain or trial we face in this life, we know that it is not our final experience.

Christians can look forward to a family inheritance in the eternal city of God. God has reserved the inheritance; it will never fade or decay; it will have no stain of sin. The best part is that you have an inheritance if you have trusted Christ as your Savior. Place yourself in the Hands of Jesus Christ and see His glory.

Read the Entire Chapter:
1 Peter Chapter 1