“After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Sometimes God works through our strengths. Sometimes our weaknesses. In Samson’s case, the latter was most definitely the case. Samson has many weaknesses, but his near total inability to choose wisely when it came to women was very near the top of the list. Read the rest…
“And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Manoah didn’t believe his wife. The text doesn’t come right out and say this, but I suspect that’s what was really going on here. And think about why: In that culture a childless couple was considered cursed by God. It was a step worse than a couple who couldn’t have a son. This was the life of Manoah and his wife. Then she comes to him out of the blue and announces that God told her she’s going to get pregnant and have a son and that the son is going to save Israel from the Philistines who had been oppressing them for a generation. This would be a little like someone coming and telling you he had a dream that you were going to get that big promotion at work and a big raise and you won the lottery as well. Naturally, he was suspicious. Read the rest…
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” (ESV – Read the chapter)
If Paul’s words to wives were tough here, his words to husbands are even more challenging. Wives are called to submit to their husbands as a function of their prior and larger submission to Christ. Husbands are called to love their wives after the pattern of Christ’s love for the church. That, of course, prompts a question: How did Christ loved the church? Answer: He died for her. He committed Himself to the last breath to seeing her become fully who God created her to be. Everything he did was for her benefit. Every single decision He made was filtered through the lens of whether or not it was going to be to her advantage. For husbands, this is our standard. Read the rest…
In this final part of our series, Marriage Myths, we look at one last myth our culture tells us about marriage. This is the myth that marriage is primarily about our happiness. It sounds nice, to be sure, but just like every other myth, it does not compare with the truth. Keep reading to find out what the truth here is and how we can live in it, and stay tuned for next week when we start a brand new teaching series called The Big Story. If you’ve ever wondered what the Bible is all about, over the next four weeks we’ll talk about it together. Read the rest…
In this third part of our series, Marriage Myths, we take a look at the cultural myth that the perfect marriage is one in which the husband and wife are perfectly equal in every way. While there is no difference in their value to the relationship, the husband and wife are not the same, nor were they designed to be. Marriage isn’t about equality at all, as it turns out. To see what it will do, keep reading…
The “All’s Fair” Dilemma
I brought a little something for show-and-tell this morning. Who knows what this is? Good. It’s a mousetrap. Okay, next question: Who knows what it’s for? Close: It’s for breaking the spine or neck of a furry little woodland creature that is only a fraction of our size and was just out for an evening snack. Its wife and 5,000 kids are probably going to starve to death now. (Anybody feel guilty yet?) Read the rest…
The Nexus 