Today's Reading: Matthew 19: 1-9
**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.
Please click this link to read Matthew 19: 1-9
Bible Study
There are so many family problems nowadays and more divorce are happening than ever. Broken families and broken relationships lead to many social problems. How can we deal with that?
N.T. Wright says:
Jesus says that Moses gave the commandments he did because Israel's hearts were hard. Here and elsewhere in the New Testament we find an analysis like this: the Old Testament, though it was indeed the word of God, was the word of God for people in the days prior to the new work of God that would happen in and through Jesus himself. And, here and elsewhere(e.g. 15: 15-20), Jesus seems to be claiming that, through this work, the root problem of the human race, the wickedness of the heart, will itself be dealt with.
God wants real people, not puppets. The renewal of life he offers, in the sphere of marriage as everywhere else, will come through the willing, intelligent obedience of wholehearted women and men who think out what it means to be loyal to God and to other people, especially to their marriage partner, and who take steps to put it into practice.
Marriage is, after all, one of the principal ways in which the image of the one true God is reflected into the world. The passage Jesus quotes in verse 4 from Genesis 1:27('male and female he created them') is the same passage in which it says that we are made in God's image. No wonder it's a hard, costly and wonderful thing to work at a marriage and truly to become 'one flesh'. Jesus' whole aim was to bring about that renewal of the world in which the intention of the creator God would at last be fulfilled. No wonder he didn't want us to settle for anything less than the best.
So, the more you are in God's image, the more Christlike you are, the better your relationship with God and your spouse will be. The best way to deal with a marriage problem is to deal with a better relationship with God first.
Do you agree?
Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"
Spiritual Journal
What I heard from Jesus today is: Christlikeness is the root to good marriage!
What I received from Jesus today is a good way and seems to me the only way to deal with a broken marriage. If both husband and wife can get back to a better relationship with Jesus, then there should be a better chance for their marriage to be repaired. Actually this is the key that I got from Jesus many years ago to deal with marriage problems. Those husbands and wives who listened to my advice to get back to a good relationship with Jesus, usually their serious problems would become minor problems and then those minor problems would subside.
Yes, Christlikeness is the root to good marriage!
Remember, it is not a theory, but a daily practice to love God and to love your spouse more daily!
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be able to love you and our spouse more daily. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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