July 30, 2025 | Be God's Family
Keeping Pure and Content
Scripture: Hebrews 13:4-6(NIV)
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.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
Devotional
I first became a pastor when I was twenty-four, just three weeks shy of my twenty-fifth birthday. I had a Master’s degree in theology and a Kindergarten’s worth of experience in life.
Though I was wet behind the ears, people came to me for advice simply because I was a minister. Throughout my twenties I counseled people through broken marriages, crushing affairs, busted families, mismanaged finances, and indebtedness up to their eyeballs. Out of desperation I purchased and read about ten books on Christian marriage, sexuality, and family, and another dozen on Christian finances, investments, and debt.
I don’t know if I ever gave people advice that helped. But I did resolve to live a different kind of life than what was walking into my pastor’s office.
It’s helpful to remember that the book of Hebrews was written to Christians. Even the first generation of believers had to be reminded that their view of sexuality and money should be derived from God, not the world.
Think of it like a huge umbrella that we carry around all the time. One option is to move about under an umbrella labeled “Cultural Worldview.” Under that our ethics and values are formed. Our secular lifestyles follow. The world approves.
The other option is to live day-to-day under and umbrella labeled “Christian Worldview.” There we form Biblical ethics and values, and pursue a God-honoring, Jesus-centered, and Spirit-filled lifestyle. It demands sexual purity and financial contentment. The world laughs.
I often wonder what happened to those people who came to me thirty-five to forty years ago. Did they reorient their lives until they discarded the old umbrella and opened the better “Christian Worldview” one? Or did they continue to lug around the “Cultural Worldview” umbrella, to their own demise?
By the way, the “Christian Worldview” umbrella is 24/7, not just for Sunday mornings. And there’s a 100% chance of rain.
Poem
In You
Psalm 81
But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.
Psalm 81:16
In You my satisfaction lies
In You I am content
In You all hopes will come to pass
In You all angst relent
O keep me pure from evil ways
O keep me in Your grace
O keep me focused on Your path
O keep me from disgrace
My praise to You be on my lips
My praise begin each morn
My praise for all your bounty borne
My praise to You in song
