"God's Way is Best" February 11 Readings: Exodus 37-38, Matthew 25:31–46, Psalm 22:6–13, Proverbs 5:3-6

Today's Readings - Exodus 37-38, Matthew 25:31–46, Psalm 22:6–13, Proverbs 5:3-6

Devotional - God's Way is Best!

How strange the words of Proverbs 5 sound to the modern ear. It is seldom helpful to look back with longing to the "good old days" but "back in my day" we had at least one advantage. We were sinful and depraved, just as people are today, but pornography was not a norm in our lives. It was something on the fringes of society, something you had to hunt for, sneak around to find, and hide. Today, it is the norm, expected. We live in a permissive, immoral, "Fifty Shades of Grey" kind of world. It is all around us, in our faces, and all too often assaulting our minds and hearts.

God's Word presents a very different ethic concerning sexual behavior. Life is not just about what makes me happy, but what God says is right. We are to walk in obedience to the standard God set at creation and reconfirmed in the New Testament - "one man, one woman; pure before marriage, faithful after marriage; till death do us part!"  God calls us to reject sexual immorality and to avoid impurity of mind and heart. It is not an easy standard to maintain in this sex-saturated, sin-enslaved world. Since we have been purchased by Christ's blood, we belong to him and must use our bodies to honor him.

But Proverbs takes things to a different level. It does not simply contain admonitions to avoid immorality and impurity but asserts that God's way is the best way, not just in eternity but here in this world. The way of the adulteress in Proverbs 5 (representing the life of sexual immorality) leads to death and destruction. Immorality is not only contrary to God's will, but it is also contrary to self-interest. It is not the path to happiness and sexual fulfillment, but the path to emptiness and pain. Living in sexual immorality and impurity drags us down, saps us of joy in life, and leeches away our vitality.

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
    sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
    her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life;

    her ways wander, and she does not know it. (Proverbs 5:3-6)

Proverbs defines the consequences of our behavior, and it has much to say about our sexual morality. Solomon admitted to his sons that the path of adultery was appealing (her lips drip honey) but warned them that there were consequences to walking the path of immorality. Bitterness. Pain (from a two-edged sword). Death and Sheol. Departure from the ways of life. One cannot walk the way of God and path of blessing while also wandering the paths of impurity, adultery, and immorality. No matter how old-fashioned that sounds it is still God's truth today and always will be.

The moral constraints defined in Scripture do not restrict our enjoyment of life or cause us undue hardship. On the contrary, they enhance life and bring joy. We live in moral purity not only because God commands it, but because God's Word is always true, his will is always right and his way is always best.

There is no better way to live life than in obedience to God's commands.

Father, I live in an impure world which scorns your commands and your ways. But I choose to live life your way, by your commands, as your Spirit empowers me. Thank you Lord for leading me to the life that brings blessing and joy!

Think and Pray

Which of the readings spoke most powerfully to you today?
Is the Spirit of God moving you to repent of something you are doing, to begin something new, or to change something about your life as a result of your readings? What?

Are you living in the purity offered through Christ or in the sin and depravity of the world?
Remember, as you seek purity through Christ, that there is forgiveness and cleansing in the Blood of Christ.