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…
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…
January 2 John 2 records Jesus’ first miracle: He turned water into wine and not just cheap wine, but fine wine. This was good wine—not grape juice, but fermented, alcoholic wine and lots of it! (120 to 600 gallons, according to John 2:6) “Why would Jesus do such a thing?” someone might ask. Look at…
In today’s Bible reading, Paul tells Timothy what to look for in church leaders. I don’t know that Paul’s checklist is so much a checklist as it is a reminder that character matters. And character matters … a lot. I find it interesting how Bible teachers and commentators read their Bibles. Many modern Bible teachers look at…
