Today's Reading:Old Testament:
Ruth 1 - 2
New Testament:
1 Corinthians 7
Focus Verses: 1 Cor.7:1-5
1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except 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.
Insight:
Remaining unmarried is a good thing, but it is not advisable for people with strong sexual needs and desires. People must be realistic about their sexuality and temptations they will face in a sexually immoral culture. Marriage is the only God-given context for sexual activity. It is the sacred context for the fulfillment of sexual needs. Husbands and wives must take sexual intimacy very seriously -- caring for each other and considering themselves to be one flesh. Husbands and wives may, by mutual consent, agree to refrain from sexual activity if it serves a higher, spiritual purpose, but even that purpose must be seen as temporary. A healthy sexual relationship in marriage serves as a deterrent to sexual immorality.
Response and Action:
I am a married person. I must treat my wife with loving respect and care. Our marriage is a sacred and committed context for sexuality. Our healthy intimacy is a safeguard against sexual immorality and temptation.
Lord God, I thank you for the gift of marriage. Help me to love, cherish, and honor my wife. Thank you for this special relationship, and thank you for making it a sanctuary of sexual purity in a world filled with sexual sin. Amen.
Proverbs: 19:14
"Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD."
Resources:
The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle
by Mike Mason
