unlikelyclay.com

Mark 3:20-35 - this is what scholars call an inclusio - meaning a story within a story.

The story that is the outside bracket is how Jesus’ family thought he was crazy.  Sometimes even those closest to you don’t understand you, especially when it comes to doing God’s will.  Jesus then re-defines the family for us - closer than blood kin are the ones who do God’s will.  Bottow line, never let your family or your fear of your family’s disapproval keep you from doing God’s will.

The inner story is Jesus telling us that it is ridiculous to think he is on Satan’s team. But he gives us an important principle - if you want to defeat evil in your life - greed, gluttony, lust, anger, pride, envy, and sloth - you need to tie up evil. 

                                                                                                                     How do you tie up evil? Be strong in Christ.  Eliminate temptation.  Throw it out of your life.  Don’t be afraid.  Think through your decisions and their consequences.  Claim the victory God wants you to have.

I Corintians 7:1-16 - great teaching about sex, marriage and divorce.  Bottom lines:  Healthy sex is part of God’s design for marriage.  Headaches are no excuse - only prayer.  If we lived by this passage what would it to for intimacy in our marriages?  Not to menion what it would do for our prayer lives!

It is better to marry than to burn with passion - but if you have the gift of being able to be unmarried, stay that way.  If your spouse is not a believer, then be a holy influence on them!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Scripture reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.