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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Friday, June 23, 2023
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Unmarried and Widowed [2] Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 7:32-40 (ESV) "Iwant you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry — it is no sin. But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God. " Message:
Paul continues at length the point he began in Wednesday’s devotional, that it is perfectly acceptable for Christ’s saints to be married. But he retracts a little bit today, for he says that, although there is no sin in being married, and a person who marries “does well”, a person who is able to remain chaste in Christ’s service “will do even better.”
Christianity tends to be a bit prudish sometimes, but it is not this prudishness that underlies Paul’s teaching; he is all in favor of sex, and even tells husbands and wives that they have a duty to satisfy one another’s needs. (1 Corinthians 7:1-6) Rather, it is simply a matter of how one spends one’s time. Married people have a spouse to worry about, and more often than not children. Having a family takes up time.
And, one must say, the most devout workers for Christ seem to remain unmarried. Vows of chastity are nearly universal among monks and nuns. Some churches require it of their leaders: Catholicism requires all clergy to remain unmarried. Some (primarily Orthodox) churches have a two-tiered approach; in the Russian Orthodox Church, priests may marry, but only the unmarried may rise to higher positions, e.g. bishoprics. Celibacy for priests is not a Biblical requirement, but rather a matter of church discipline and choice, for Paul himself taught that “A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife,” in 1 Timothy.
Celibacy was a pressure point of the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church had been through a difficult period in the Renaissance, when bishops, cardinals and even popes would have a mistress (or several!) and illegitimate children. Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, had four children by one mistress whom he acknowledged openly, and at least two others by other women.
Thus, when Luther demanded the right to marry, although it left him open to accusations of less-than-complete devotion to Our Lord, he had ammunition to fire back at his critics — that he, at least, would marry the woman he slept with!
Chastity in God’s service has become gradually harder and harder to find. Whether this is because fervor in the name of Christ’s service is diminishing, or that social mores towards sex have become ever more lax, is difficult to say.
Meditation : Prayer : Oh Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you”; I pray that I and your whole church, the body of all faithful people, will know your peace, and live in harmony and unity, one with another, in accordance with your wishes. This I pray to you, who lives and reigns forever......Amen |
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