Hebrews 13:4-6

Summary retelling of Hebrews 13:4-6

We are to keep a high regard for marriage among our people.  We are to keep our marriage bed undefiled – for one thing God has little tolerance for in marital infidelity.  We are also to find ways from falling into the love of money and instead we are to learn how to be content with what we have.  After all, God has told us that He will never leave us nor abandon us.  With God, we can honestly say that if God is with us, why should we fear any other person?

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Sexuality is a difficult concept to talk about today.  Many people have all kinds of opinions about sexuality.  People make arguments that casual sex between friends is okay.  Others make arguments that homosexual sex is okay.  Others make claims that sex with multiple partners is okay as long as one’s spouse is included or aware.  The truth is, our society is in love with sex – in a plethora of imaginative and unthinkable ways.  To be even more honest, sex has become a sacred cow in our culture.  As soon as someone asserts that there is a proper place for sex and other avenues of sexual expression are a bad idea – the person is branded a prude or a hypocrite or a hater.  However, sexuality is a place where there is little room for compromise according to God’s Word.  Either we have a high regard and high cultural expectation for marital sex as the only true sexual expression or we do not have the same opinion as God.  When we open our opinions up to having a broad perspective on the legitimacy of sexual encounters, all we are really doing is denigrating the whole sexual intent that God established for His creation.

Why is it difficult to keep our perspectives on human sexuality pure in our culture today?  Why do you really think that sex and marriage is a hot-button issue in our culture?  In what way can this whole topic be seen as an assault on God and God’s ways?

Second Thought:

Likewise, we are cautioned against falling in love with idols – especially money.  There is a saying: money can’t buy true happiness.  Yet, that doesn’t mean that many of us don’t try.  We try to purchase happiness all over the place.  We try to purchase security.  We try to purchase safety throughout our life.  We build up huge retirement accounts so that we can provide for ourselves.  But in doing so, we often miss the bigger challenge.  We often miss the call to be content with what we have.

Are you content with what you have?  What keeps you from truly feeling content?  What if God called you to be a missionary in some remote location in the world and you had to leave much of what you have?  Would you be content?  What does that really say about how content you are now?

Third Thought:

There is another reason we are to be content.  We need to trust God to put what we truly need in our life.  When we try to buy happiness, we trust more in ourselves than in God.  In fact, this point goes the whole way back to the sexuality point earlier.  When we have sex outside of marriage (either as an extra-marital affair or as a single person) we are really taking matters into our own hands and not trusting God’s ability to provide for us and sustain us.  Truly, most of the big decisions (or even “sins,” if you will) in our life can ultimately be traced back to our ability to trust God and His provision for us.

Do you trust God?  How does this thought tie in with temptation?  How can temptation be seen as an adversary to our trust in God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 13:7