Marriage

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

MARRIAGE

Heb 13:4-5

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  

NIV

It seems pretty self-explanatory about what we are supposed to do within the God ordained institution of marriage. Although within the context of the time of which this was written and the original language speaks of men being male prostitutes, or hired lovers, it still speaks to the sanctity of marriage. Surely many of us make mistakes in life, in all sorts of situations, and one sin is surely not any worse of better then another, so those of us who think we are free of this kind of error are better than those who have fallen prey to this temptation should soberly examine our own life. But having said that those of us who have fallen in this area of our lives know the pain and suffering it brings. But this is speaking of a perpetual lifestyle of dishonoring the marriage bed in a willful way. It is interesting though that this command it spoken in the same breathe with not being lovers of money, but being content with what we have due to the fact that God said he would never leave us nor forsake us. Could this marriage bed be that of us being the bride of Christ, and in a marriage contact with God? Could this be that the adultery is one who sells himself to the ways of the world for the sake of money? Could this be about being a prostitute to the world? Our devotion to God can be deferred for money is what is at stake here. Is this about honoring our relationship with God and keeping it pure, and not committing adultery with the world? Surely in the purely physical aspects of life, we are to keep our marriages pure, but how much greater is the harm to our souls if we do not keep our relationship with God pure, forsaking selling ourselves for money. So do we see this as the physical or the spiritual battle or perhaps both? Nevertheless we are to follow this advice with every effort possible. We need not look for satisfaction from these world pleasures, for God will never leave or forsake us. He is all we need.