Ramblings on What We Share: Decisions About Marriage and Divorce

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? I Corinthians 7:8-16

In this passage we see God’s mercy, compassion and kindness. His mercy towards those who are single or widowed and need the companionship of a spouse. His compassion towards the unbelieving spouse knowing that the best Christian witness is the one who shared life together with them. His kindness towards the spouse who is rejected or abandoned, allowing them to find happiness in a new life.

The key phrase in this passage is “God has called us to live in peace.” The Lord gives spouses permission to separate in order to preserve peace. Often the simple absence of each other will draw the two together again. My mother used to say that we should treat our spouse as if they were exactly what we want them to be. This can often help the Holy Spirit form in them the qualities that we admire.

Ramblings on What We Share: Marital Intimacy

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. I Corinthians 7:1-7

A happy marriage is a gift from God. To take two distinctly different people and unify them in devotion, affection and contentment takes an act of God. Attraction in a marriage is natural and appropriate. The mystery of the physical intimacy between a husband and wife is to be respected, welcomed and kept sacred. Human touch is healing, encouraging, comforting and, in the marriage bed, exhilarating. It is not to be abandoned or the unity begins to crack. A couple that does not touch each other may soon find that they do not want to touch each other. They open the door for Satan to sow seeds of discontentment and temptation.

Those of us who have loving marriages wish everyone could find it, but those of us in difficult marriages wouldn’t wish it on our worst enemy. Without the mystery of divine unity, marriage is just two distinctly different people trying to find common ground.

Ramblings on What We Share: Sins of the Flesh

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. I Corinthians 6:12-20

What is salvation? Some would say it is the saving of a person’s soul from Hell and they would be right. Yet it is more than that. Paul tells us here that Christ paid the price for “you” – all of you, not just your soul.

As a believer, your body, soul and spirit is one with Christ. Can you imagine Jesus violating himself through sins of the flesh? It is unthinkable. Yet when we commit sins in our flesh, we are dragging Him along with us.

Sin will not stop with just a corner of your life. It eats away at the substance of your being like a slow acid until it has destroyed every inch of who you are.

We are “Christians” – each of us like little bits of Christ spread all across the world. The Shekhinah glory of the ancient temple dwells inside of us. Our bodies are for the Lord and everything we do with them reflects upon Him.

Ramblings on What We Share: Clean

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

There is an old hymn that says, “Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot.” A towel with one spot of mud is not clean any more than is a towel dripping with muddy water. We may not be able to identify with the various kinds of wickedness Paul describes here – although most of us probably can to some degree – but it matters not because we have all sinned and experienced the blotting of our souls.

We who were ineligible for an inheritance have become the heirs. How? By being washed clean of the wickedness in our souls and by the sanctifying and justifying work of the Holy Spirit. Should we run through a puddle and find ourselves dirty again, we can return to the “fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins and there beneath the cleansing flood lose all our guilty stains.”

Be of good cheer, you who are wicked! The kingdom of God is waiting just on the other side of the waterfall of grace.