Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello again, dear ones.

Nice summer day out there again. I think it’s true that the way the weather has performed, we’re seeing things ripen and come on about two weeks or so earlier than normal. For example, the black berry vines are already yielding ripe fruit. In the domestic scene, I’m glad to be gleaning a little benefit from my garden effort—a cucumber, a few beans, a few squash, and this morning I plucked off our first fairly ripe cherry tomato. Becki and I each ate half.

We’re coping with some disgust. This morning was the second time we’ve had an expert from Verizon scheduled to come for a conference—and it’s the second no-show. Phooey.

Time to move along toward other points on the agenda. Blessings on yours.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The title heading in my Bible at the beginning of chapter 7 is simply “Marriage”—a topic with a definition hotly debated in our modern culture. I guess we’ll have to let the world duke it out. But we who embrace Biblical Truth should live with a more united and stabilizing understanding. Even with this body of Biblical revelation, I confess to being a little nervous. I certainly don’t lay any claim to being some kind of great teacher or counselor relative to marriage and sexual relationships. I know that most of us are not eager to be very open with our private intimacies. We may also be somewhat bound by the traditional silence that this whole topic has been given in our past. However, the prevalence of conflict, problems, and damage that flow from this area of life along with the clarity of scriptural instruction go together to give me a sense of urgency that we as parents, teachers, and leaders be as forthright as the scriptures are on the subject.

Paul gives some instruction in this chapter that, in some cases, is hard to sort out and understand. But no one can accuse him of being ignorant or insensitive to the reality of human sexual passion. Even within the exclusive confines of marriage, there are still certain diabolical dangers that Paul wants his people to be aware of. (See 2 Corinthians 2:11) So he instructs married believers to constantly recognize their oneness with each other and that their married bodies are designed and ordained for the mutual satisfaction and fulfillment of each other. The “act of marriage” is intended to be an ongoing pattern and experience for normal married couples that should only be set aside temporarily for the purpose of focused spiritual pursuits. But even in that case, Paul cautions that it must be done with care and by mutual agreement—SO THAT SATAN WILL NOT TEMPT YOU. An implied point of the presentation is that good satisfying sexual participation in marriage actually offers a form of effective spiritual warfare that helps protect one from the kind of temptation that leads to sexual failure. This entire scope of sexual mismanagement has to be one of Satan’s most effective strategies and objectives for deceiving and damaging people—including believers.

Let’s not lack in our basic understanding of this basic area of life. Too many do—and pay big consequences. God is the giver, designer, and creator of marriage and its special one-flesh feature. Satan is the stealer, twister, and destroyer of the same. Your best protection against the deceptive devices of the enemy is to nurture A HEART AFTER GOD, hiding His Word in your heart with a commitment to live by its principles—SO THAT SATAN WILL NOT TEMPT YOU. Because if you don’t, he will.