ODB: A Modest Proposal
August 27, 2011 READ: Philippians 2:1-11 [Jesus] humbled Himself . . . to the point of death, even the death of the cross. —Philippians 2:8 As a college student, I heard count- less engagement stories. My starry-eyed friends told about glitzy restaurants, mountaintop sunsets, and rides in horse-drawn carriages. I also recall one story about [...]
ODB: The Power Of A Promise
July 8, 2011
READ: Genesis 2:18-25
For this reason a man shall . . . be joined to his wife. —Matthew 19:5
I wear only two pieces of jewelry: a wedding band on my finger and a small Celtic cross on a chain around my neck. The ring represents my vow to be faithful to Carolyn, my wife, as long as I shall live. The cross reminds me that it is not for her sake alone, but for Jesus’ sake that I do so. He has asked me to be faithful to her until death shall separate us.
A marriage vow is more than a contract that we can break by paying damages. It is a unique vow that is explicitly intended to be binding until death separates us (Matt. 19:6). The words “for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health” take into consideration the probability that it will not be easy to keep our vows. Circumstances may change and so may our spouses.
Marriage is hard at best; disagreements and difficult adjustments abound. While no one must live in an abusive and dangerous relationship, accepting the difficulties of poverty, hardship, and disappointment can lead to happiness. A marriage vow is a binding obligation to love, honor, and cherish one another for as long as we shall live because Jesus has asked us to do so. As a friend of mine once put it, “This is the vow that keeps us faithful even when we don’t feel like keeping our vows.”
— David H. Roper
Love is more than a feeling; it’s a commitment.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...ODB: The Real Prize
May 25, 2011
READ: Ephesians 5:22-33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. —Ephesians 5:25
I’ve been amazed at the impact that my wife, Martie, has had on the lives of our kids. Very few roles demand the kind of unconditional, self-sacrificing perseverance and commitment as that of motherhood. I know for certain that my character and faith have been shaped and molded by my mom, Corabelle. Let’s face it, where would we be without our wives and mothers?
It reminds me of one of my favorite memories in sports history. Phil Mickelson walked up the 18th fairway at the Masters Golf Tournament in 2010 after his final putt to clinch one of golf’s most coveted prizes for the third time. But it wasn’t his victory leap on the green that had an impact on me. It was when he made a beeline through the crowd to his wife, who was battling life-threatening cancer. They embraced, and the camera caught a tear running down Phil’s cheek as he held his wife close for a long time.
Our wives need to experience the kind of sacrificial, selfless love that has been shown to us by the Lover of our souls. As Paul put it, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25). Prizes come and go, but it’s the people you love—and who love you—that matter most.
— Joe Stowell
Life is not about the prizes we win, but the people we love.
Source: Our Daily Bread
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: long commute
The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs (v.3).
READ: 1 Corinthians 7:1-7
Michael Hanley traded an 8-minute commute to work for an 8-hour one. When his autoworker job in Wisconsin was phased out, he stayed with the company and took the only position available—in Kansas. His weekly round-trip commute is now more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles). He’s gone from his family each workweek, seeing them only on the weekends. But he chose to stay with the company because of the good wages, a retirement package he’s working toward, and medical benefits. Being apart from his wife, however, has been brutal. The apostle Paul recognized how important it is for husbands and wives to spend time together. He knew that distance can make the heart wander—not necessarily cause it to grow fonder. And so he told the married believers in Corinth, “Do not deprive each other of sexual relations” (1 Corinthians 7:5). He supported this instruction with two points about sex: (1) Husbands and wives should fulfill each other’s needs for intimacy (v.3); (2) When the two wed, their bodies were no longer their own—but were to be shared by their spouse (v.4). It’s essential, however, that we live out these truths in gentle and tender ways (Ephesians 5:28-29; 1 Peter 3:7). Sex in marriage is meant to be selfless, not selfish. Husbands and wives have the God-given gift of sex as something to be enjoyed (Proverbs 5:18-19). But sometimes we drift apart emotionally . . . and physically. It might not be a long commute that keeps us apart, but things like the lack of loving communication, being unhealthily busy, and not being affectionate throughout the day. God desires for us to “remain faithful” to our spouses (Hebrews 13:4). To do so requires that we keep the stuff of life from coming between us and them. If we don’t, the results can be brutal. —Tom Felten
If you’re married, what is keeping you and your spouse from a healthy intimate relationship? How does God want you to change?
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But forget all that—it is nothing compared with what I am going to do (v.18).
READ: Isaiah 43:14-21
After our first son was born, my wife Miska and I entered a rough stretch in our marriage. We had been extremely close, but now another little person interrupted all that. We loved Wyatt very much, but our relational dynamic had changed forever. Selfishly, I kept insisting that our marriage get back to the way it was before the upheaval. One day, amid a fight, Miska said, “Winn, you are going to have to stop insisting our marriage be what it was. It will be good again, but it will be different.” Isaiah wrote to the people of Judah prior to their Babylonian exile. He reminded them of how God miraculously rescued them generations earlier during their Egyptian exile. He recounted how God was the one who “opened a way through the waters” and made a “dry path through the sea” (Isaiah 43:16). The Exodus story, Moses going toe-to-toe with Pharaoh, plagues raining down, and the people crossing the Red Sea on dry ground had been their defining marker of God’s power and goodwill toward them. So, in the face of their prophesied future exile, some of God’s people may have assumed that God intended to send another prophet and another battery of stunning plagues, another miraculous trek across a sea to deliver them. They may have expected God to act in a certain way. Maybe others, when they heard Isaiah’s words, felt cynical. We’ve heard these stories before, for hundreds of years. But nothing is going to change. Either way, the people had to let go of what they were holding so tightly (either their cynical doubts or their ideas of how God would act). They had to forget what they thought they knew so they could receive the new thing God wanted to do. As novelist L. P. Hartley said, “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.” —Winn Collier
How are you cynical toward God’s promises or locked in your view of how God should care for you? What “new thing” do you think God may be wanting to do in or for you?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODJ: the fight for marriage
Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude (v.8).
READ: 1 Peter 3:1-12
The fight for godly marriages has raged since the fall in Eden, but in the past few years, my husband and I have become increasingly aware that the battle lines begin at our doorstep. Seeing some of our friends divorce and others separate has left us wishing for the innocence of days gone by. As we prepare to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary, we are so grateful for the work God has done in our marriage—for the gift we’ve been given.
God established marriage as a means of procreation (1:28), companionship (2:18), and as a reflection of God’s selfless love (1 Peter 3:8; Ephesians 5:25). In short, it’s so much deeper than anything this world can demonstrate to us.
We can feel dismay when we see what is taking place in the political and public arena regarding the state of marriage. When we see friends and family members struggle in their marital relationships, it can grieve us. And we’re left with this vital question: How are we passionately protecting our own marriages?
To keep our marital bonds strong, we should: • Invest - The greatest amount of time and investment should be in our relationship with God. Then, our relationship with our spouse must receive the second most investment—more than other relationships (1 Peter 3:1-2). • Trust - We must trust God with changes we desire to take place in our spouse (v.5,7-8). It’s vital that we place our life on the altar and focus on how He wants us to change. • Guard - Our interactions with members of the opposite sex must be pure and holy (vv.11-12). Unity in marriage means no hidden places.
Let’s honor God by protecting our marriages. They’re worth the fight. —Regina Franklin
If you’re married, how can you strengthen the condition of your marriage? If you’re single, how can you strengthen your relationship with your first love—God?
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: patience, man
The Lord replied, “Then I will not destroy [Sodom] for the sake of the ten” (v.32).
READ: Genesis 18:16-33
After church one Sunday, our family pulled up to the drive-up window of a local fast-food restaurant. We inched up to the microphone and waited. After a lengthy pause, a voice told us it would be just another minute. I felt a surge of irritation. When my husband finally placed our order, the voice vanished again. “Helloooo?” we called. The voice responded, “Patience, man.” And we waited some more.
Most of us don’t think of God’s longsuffering ways when we picture the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Images of fireballs, burning sulfur, and a fossilized woman (Genesis 19:24-26) remind us of God’s judgment and His righteous anger. Still, before those events, God’s patience was present.
Prior to Sodom’s demise, God visited Abraham, saying, “I am going down to see if [the city’s] actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know” (18:21). The Lord took the time to personally scope out the situation before halting the city’s wickedness—even though, in His divinity, He must have known all the details. God was demonstrating His patience.
Before leaving for Sodom, God endured a string of annoying questions from Abraham that began like this: “Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes?” (v.24). When God promised He would, Abe asked the same kind of question five more times!
We need to mirror God’s character and “be patient with each other” (Ephesians 4:2). This might mean listening wholeheartedly to less-than-engaging dialogue, or carefully investigating when we’d rather jump to our own conclusions. In any case, it requires us to answer God’s call to have patience, man. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt
How have you benefitted from God’s patience? How can you exhibit Christlike patience in today’s society?
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: what i need
Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need (Matthew 6:33).
READ: Genesis 21:8-20
Diane was devastated. Despite her husband’s absence for nearly half their 8-year marriage, she had faithfully supported him in his military career. Then, abruptly, he announced that he was leaving her and their children for another woman. Now she sat in a clinic awaiting test results that would let her know if he had left her with any “parting gifts”—STDs.
An elderly woman seated across from Diane noticed her telltale red eyes. “Are you all right?” she gently inquired. With nothing to lose, the younger woman decided to share her plight. As providence would have it, this woman had also been divorced after 8 years of marriage—more than 5 decades earlier! And she, like Diane, was a follower of Jesus. She knew exactly what this young mother was going through. As her new friend quietly prayed for her in the waiting room, Diane knew that somehow God would bring her and her children through this difficult season. It was enough grace for the moment, at just the right moment.
In Genesis, we read of another woman who knew rejection and abandonment. Hagar, a servant to Sarah, had been sent into the arid wilderness by her owner (Genesis 21:8-14). Having run out of water, she put her son in the shade some distance away so she wouldn’t have to watch him die (v.16). But the angel of the Lord met her there and provided for their needs.
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He spoke of meeting our basic physical needs (Matthew 6:25-33). But He also provides what we need for the vast array of experiences that life throws at us. For some of our biggest needs are emotional.
Life is hard. But we have Someone who knows what we’re going through. He will never abandon us. He’s within reach of our next heartfelt prayer. —Tim Gustafson
What are your needs? How are these distinct from your wants? How are the things that you want pleasing or not pleasing to God?
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...ODJ: even the women
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other (v.26).
READ: Romans 1:18-32
The mothers in my neighborhood threw a party for the distinctive feature of the male anatomy—one of them even baked a cake in its shape and invited my wife over to see it. My wife politely declined, but the incident reminded us that we’re living in an increasingly pornographic world.
Sexual sin is always wrong, but it’s particularly troubling when middle-aged women start behaving like junior high boys. Perhaps because sex and pregnancy are particularly personal for women, they have traditionally provided our last line of defense against sexual deviancy. When “even the women” (Romans 1:26) lose all sense of sexual propriety, what hope is there for our men?
We live in an age of pornography. Not long ago, someone who wanted to ogle naked bodies had to make an effort to leave their home and go to the seedy part of town. Now we stumble across pornography while surfing the Web or on television. And few people seem to mind. Some of us remember not being allowed to attend the movie theater because it was “worldly.” We scoffed at such legalism, but now the pendulum has swung in the other direction. Most of us are free to go to movies, and there is almost nothing we won’t watch. Consider the gratuitous nudity and simulated sex you have seen on television or in a theater, and you’ll know what I mean.
God commands us to “give honor to marriage” (Hebrews 13:4). It’s hard to do that when we lust after bodies that do not belong to our spouse or use vulgar terms or throw parties that demean the bodies God has given us. God is against porn because He is for sex within the sacred estate of marriage. Don’t cheapen His beautiful gift with coarse talk or promiscuity. —Mike Wittmer
How does pornography and promiscuity rob us of the sacred nature of sex? How will you pursue a pure life that honors God?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ODJ: the joy of sex
Drink water from your own well—share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone? (vv.15-16).
READ: Proverbs 5:1-23
The women’s fashion and lifestyle magazine in my mechanic’s office flaunted numerous articles about sex. One story, meant to be especially titillating, recounted the exploits of men who made love to multiple partners at once. The article left me sad. These hollow thrill seekers are not just looking for love in all the wrong places, they’re looking for love in too many places.
The best sex is exclusive. The oneness between a husband and wife—“two are united into one” (Genesis 2:18,24)—is a reflection of the ultimate spiritual oneness shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is a self-giving community of love: Three in One who exist in a perfect relationship. Theologians base our understanding of the mutual indwelling of the Trinity on Jesus’ words: “You are in Me, Father, and I am in You” (John 17:21). When we become one with another body, we reflect the God who made us in His image as male and female (Genesis 1:27).
Some popular love songs seem to get it right. Sex can be “almost paradise.” It is “knocking on heaven’s door,” because the companionship and intimacy of marriage echo the love of our triune God. This is why Proverbs instructs married couples to “reserve [sex] for yourselves. Never share it with strangers” (5:17).
When we selfishly use another person for our own physical pleasure—stealing from their body rather than owning and being owned by them—the true joy of sex (that only comes through giving ourselves completely to the one person who has given him or herself to us) is lost.
Any animal can mate. Only humans can know the bliss of being loved by one other—of being naked and vulnerable and still embraced. And that is simply divine. —Mike Wittmer
In light of this theology of sex, how does this help you understand why God hates divorce and any sex that occurs outside the covenant of marriage? Whether you’re single or married, how can you glorify God in the way you live out your sexuality?
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