Read with Me
Hebrews 13:4-6 (HCSB)
Marriage must be respected by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge immoral people and adulterers. Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, we may boldly say:
The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
Listen with Me
The writer of Hebrews continues his exhortations to his readers, urging them to actively live out what they believe. The next two exhortations are about disordered affections.
The first focuses on sexuality. God ordained sexual expression, so it is legitimate, but only in the context of covenant marriage. That is why He declares adultery and other forms of sexual immorality to be not just invalid, but morally wrong.
These days, sexual behavior is governed by feelings rather than understanding why God created sexuality in the first place (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:20b-24), and the limits God put in place around sexual behavior. But feelings are notoriously fickle and unreliable guides, changeable day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Sexuality is such a powerful thing with such miraculous potential to produce new life that it should never be left up to feelings to decide when and how it should be expressed.
For the Christian, being the covenant people of God, sexuality must only be used as God has commanded. That means that the oath sworn in the marriage ceremony, for each person to reserve themselves only for the other for the rest of their lives, must be kept inviolable. As the writer so clearly states, God will judge all who misuse this divine gift.
Another area in which affections can become disordered is in regard to material possessions, represented here by money. As people created in God’s image, humans are to resemble God by loving people and using things. But when our affections become disordered by greed, those priorities quickly become inverted, leading us to love things, and to use people in order to get those things.
Instead, we as Christians are to always remember that material things, including money, are temporary, can’t be taken into the next world, and will ultimately be lost or destroyed. Our focus is to be on the great blessings that God has poured out on us, blessings that, if we live in them, will never be lost, and cannot be destroyed.
The key blessing, and the source of all the others, is God’s own presence. If we live in God’s commands and do his will, He has promised to never leave or forsake us, and to always be a solid rock on which we can stand firm, no matter what storms may come.
Pray with Me
Father, if there is one phrase that tends to characterize our society these days, “disordered affections” is probably it. And You are right when You say that much of this disorder comes because we are increasingly being taught to live by our feelings instead of by Your commands. This is troublesome and trouble-causing, not only because our emotions are so changeable, but also because they are so easily manipulated by others. Our emotions bypass our logic circuits and can make us accept things that are contrary to facts and to act in ways that are contrary to reason. Help me, Lord, to so order my life that every part of me, my will as well as my emotions, are always kept in submission to Your will and Your commands, so that I can live in Your presence continually and eternally. Amen.