by Micah Olson | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, Mentors Corner
You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2 Throughout Scripture we are told that God tests us, and that His tests are for our good. We often associate God’s testing with trials such as ill health, financial problems, and difficult interpersonal relationships. These are all legitimate tests, but Deuteronomy 8:2 makes it clear that another important way that God tests us is through our obedience to His commandments. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul had two questions for Him: The first: “Who are you, Lord?” The second: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 2:6-10) The first step you take as a Christian is to proclaim, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” This statement should always be followed with, “What should I do about it? What does Christ want me to do?” The New Testament is full of positive and negative commandments that help us answer this question. The negative commands (“thou shalt not”) are straightforward in their application. This does not mean they are easy to obey, just that little ambiguity exists in how we should obey. The positive commands (“thou shalt” e.g. “love your neighbor as yourself,” “honor your father and mother,” and “husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church”) are more subjective in their application. Each of us carries out obedience to these commands in legitimately different ways, and the...
by Ed Allen | Jun 5, 2017 | Articles, What Do You Think?
Matthew 19: 3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? 6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9 “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” OBSERVATION The “certificate of divorce” that Moses permitted was not intended for the benefit of the man so that he could remarry, but for the benefit of the wife he sent away, so that she could remarry. Marriage, being created by God is Holy and the man or woman who defiles it by adultery sins. So, the one who runs off their husband or wife, finding after marriage a dislike for him or her, frees him or her to remarry, but it does not free the one who runs the other off. Likewise the one who commits adultery frees the other to remarry. Marriage is a bond from which one may not be released except for adultery or the will...
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