Be a Shelter

Proverbs 17:13 (KJV) Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

Again a thought crossed my mind as I read this this morning about homes where one person is righteous and the other is rebellious.  How does that apply to such a home?

My mind goes to that passage, I believe in Paul,

(1Co 7:14 KJV)  For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

Stretch it out a little bit and look at things on a national level.  Our country seems to be discarding any kind of moral fiber and heading down the drain.  We are getting fewer and fewer people who seek to be righteous.  At what point is the salt leached out and we are open to God’s retribution?

So?  Keep in mind that the Bible constantly talks about the faithful remnant and it’s very clear that the righteous will always be a minority.  Make sure you’re part of that minority and leave the big issues up to God himself.  

Suspended Curse

Proverbs 17:13 (KJV) Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

As I read this verse this morning, it started my mind down the rabbit trail of divided homes.  I think we all know situations were either the husband or the wife is a believer, and the other isn’t.  Sometimes that works relatively harmoniously, but occasionally you get a situation where a husband will be openly antagonistic towards his believing wife.  I think of one couple that we knew years ago where he absolutely forbid her even to go to church.  She chose to submit his authority.

How does this work out when you have this kind of conflict going on in a home?  Will evil predominate?  My thought went to another scripture,

1 Corinthians 7:14 (KJV) For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

So? Somehow, and ways that I don’t often see, God has promised to have His hand on the family that has a believer in it. 

Genuine Prudishness

(Proverbs 5:15 KJV)  Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

This is an expression of what it means to be a prude.  I understand that there have been times when the church has taught that sex was evil and the only time you could be sexually involved, even in marriage, was with the intent to procreate.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  That teaching is a residue of the Gnostic heresies that seeped into the church from the culture of Bible times and soon after.  The teaching of Gnosticism that is involved here is the duality of existence.  The spiritual was good.  The physical was bad.  Thus sex, since it was physical, was bad and could only be a part of your life to make children.

These people evidently had not read Paul’s writings.  I give it here in the NASB because it is clearer.

(1 Corinthians 7:5 NAS77)  Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Read the whole passage to get the entire message.  It agrees with Proverbs.

So?  If you are married, enjoy the act of marriage.  If you aren’t, I am sorry but chastity is still your only choice.