July 5 Paul begins 1 Corinthians 7 talking about sexual intimacy in marriage. While he prohibits sexual immorality (all sexual behavior outside the context of a one-man-one-woman covenant marital relationship), Paul encourages sexual intimacy within a covenant marital relationship. In fact, he says that giving yourself to your spouse is your conjugal duty. And it’s…
July 4 In yesterday’s Bible reading and devotional, we read Paul’s discussion on sexual immorality. He continues to discussion today in 1 Corinthians 6. But he begins chapter 6 talking about church members litigating against other church members. He says that believers should not take their church disagreements to secular courts. There are two issues…
July 3 Paul says that he is aware that someone in the Corinthian church is unashamedly committing sexual immorality. He says it is worse than the immorality that is tolerated among the Gentiles. Specifically, he says that a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. Paul says, “You should be ashamed of yourselves! You should…
June 18 I have often heard people worry about finding God’s will for their lives. Sometimes, they worry that perhaps they have missed God’s will. Unfortunately, I have found that those who worry the most are often the same ones who seem to be the least likely to go to God’s Word first. No, you…
February 23 In Matthew 19, the religious leaders tried to set a trap for Jesus by asking Him about divorce. At the time, there were two basic ways of looking at the issue. One way, taught by Rabbi Shammai allowed divorce only in the case of adultery. The other, taught by Rabbi Hillel, allowed divorce…
In today’s Bible reading* the people returning from Babylon run into opposition to their charge to rebuild the Temple. The people who had remained in the land offered to help with the construction, and those returning responded, “No thanks. We have no common interests with you in rebuilding the temple.” (Ezra 4:3) Why would the…
