TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Luke 22:39-23:25
But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. - Luke 23:23
TODAY IN THE WORD
In 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both chased down Roger Maris's single-season home run record, America's love of baseball rocketed to new heights. But this year, when Barry Bonds surpassed Babe Ruth's long-revered career home run mark, the public reaction was minimal and in many cases negative. The recent news about prevalent steroid use had lessened America's fondness for sluggers.

In similar fashion, Jesus' admirers turned on Him because of one major revelation, something that was far more offensive to the Jews than cheating or lying—He had claimed to be the Son of God.

The change happens so quickly, it's actually easy to overlook. At nighttime, as Jesus prayed under the full weight of His pending suffering (and as the disciples were overwhelmed by grief), Jesus' opponents had to act under the cloak of night to avoid Jesus' countless passionate supporters. But by the next day, the crowds of people in Jerusalem were calling for His crucifixion. The only thing that could have changed their minds was Jesus' tacit acknowledgment that He was the Son of God, the logical conclusion of His claims before the religious council (22:70).

Such a bold statement was tantamount to blasphemy for the Jews, but in the Roman world it wasn't legal basis for any major punishment. The Jewish leaders tried Jesus before Pilate, Herod, and then Pilate again in attempts to punish Him with fabricated stories of insurrection.

For Herod, the trial was a joke. To Pilate, Jesus deserved to be free. But Pilate, like any ruler in the face of a passionate public, bowed to popular opinion. Barabbas was set free, and Jesus was sentenced to pay the penalty for crimes of which Barabbas was guilty. In fact, He was sentenced to pay the penalty for the sins of every person.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Peter's change of heart was different from the crowds, because He already believed Jesus was the Son of God (9:20). Peter just buckled under pressure, and Jesus had practically forgiven him before he even committed the sin (22:32). If you have failed Jesus, that doesn't mean He can no longer use you. Your faith is not in your own ability to defend Jesus (as Peter tried to do with a sword), but rather in the power of Christ's blood to pay for your sins.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 1:26-31
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
TODAY IN THE WORD
In June 1999, workers rescued the famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. When the lighthouse went into service in 1870, it stood 1,600 feet from the ocean, but decades of erosion had brought the 208-foot-high lighthouse to within 150 feet of the ocean. Fearing that a storm might topple the historic building, the National Park Service moved the lighthouse back to its original distance of 1,600 feet from the water’s edge.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse helps to illustrate what is happening to the covenant relationship of marriage. For decades, the world’s destructive influence has been eroding the ground out from under the sacredness of marriage. The permanence of marriage has been under assault for a long time, so that now it is necessary to defend marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

It might seem as if the next legal or cultural blow will topple marriage into the ocean. However, since marriage is God’s idea, He can and will make it stand. Marriage isn’t about to disappear anytime soon.

Still, the church needs to recover the truth about marriage and move it back on solid biblical ground. This month’s studies address this need.

We want to look at marriage from several biblical perspectives, including God’s will for marriage, some important issues in marriage, and biblical qualities and habits that married people need. We’ll close the month with Scripture passages that describe the unique blessings of marriage.

Since our culture attacks marriage at the foundational level of God’s purposes for male and female identity, we’ll begin with God’s creation of man and woman as distinctive sexes.
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If you are single, we hope you won’t be too quick to lay this devotional aside.

Married or single, the Bible has much to say about the kind of people we should be. We’ll be spending time this month talking about biblical qualities we all need to cultivate. Also, Scripture uses the images of husband and wife, bride and groom, and a wedding, to teach us about our relationship with God as believers. Marriage is an issue that affects everyone--so please pray that God will prepare your heart to hear and receive His Word this month.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 2:18-25
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. - Genesis 2:24
TODAY IN THE WORD
Pastor and Bible teacher Charles Swindoll says, “One of the most beautiful blueprints ever designed has been God’s plan for marriage. Established before there was any sin in the world, marriage illustrates God’s perfect design for relationships.”

This is evident in today’s classic reading on marriage. God designed marriage before His paradise was marred by sin. There may have been a time when this basic biblical plan for marriage was the prevailing view of the culture, but that’s no longer true. So let’s remind ourselves of how God drew up the marriage covenant.

First, God said that Adam’s “aloneness” was not good. This was not a command for everyone to get married, but a statement of God’s intention to fulfill His command, “Be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen. 1:28).

The rest of Scripture reveals that God intended marriage to be the centerpiece and anchor of the home, where parents would grow in mature faith and children would be born and nurtured. Although sin distorts the basic plan, it still works.

Adam’s companion was not found among the animals, and God did not bring together two people of the same sex. Eve was complementary, or “suitable,” to Adam, not the same as Adam. He knew this immediately when he first saw Eve and realized that she had come from his flesh and bones.

Maybe the most important lesson today about marriage is God’s initiative in the process. For instance, it was God who first noted that Adam lacked a partner. We aren’t told if Adam himself felt this lack. Maybe not at first--perhaps that’s why God took Adam through the process of naming the animals, to show him that no other creature corresponded to him.
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Those of us who have been Christians for years may be tempted to react to these truths by assuming, “Everybody knows this.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Timothy 4:1-5
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. - Hebrews 13:4
TODAY IN THE WORD
In a recent issue of Worldwide Challengemagazine, Mike Clapper tells of a decision he made before his marriage in August 1999. “As I grew in my faith, I developed a strong desire to honor the woman I would marry. What would make my wife feel special?I would think. It occurred to me that saving my first kiss for my wife (not just my fiancée) would make her feel special. I came to believe that unless I actually committed myself to a woman for life, I had not earned the right to kiss her.” Clapper kept his pledge; his wedding-day kiss to his wife Lauri was their first.

A commitment like this is certainly out of the ordinary, yet we need to see this young man’s deep desire before God to honor his marriage and his future partner. This desire reflects God’s will concerning the value of marriage. God wants all of His people to give a high degree of honor to the marriage covenant.

Paul affirmed the honorable nature of marriage in the middle of a serious warning to his spiritual son, Timothy. Although marriage was not the apostle’s main subject here, he used it as a prime example of a gift that God had ordained and blessed and that false teachers tried to distort.

These pseudo-disciples picked out marriage as something to be renounced for no reason other than their attempt at self-righteousness by replacing God’s standards with man-made regulations. This kind of false religion is useless; it carries no weight with God.

The Bible affirms that marriage is one of God’s good gifts, to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. The people about whom Paul was writing denigrated and dishonored marriage by their teaching. It’s fair to say we are living in the “later times” (v. 1), and we have seen this brand of false spirituality in several cults over the past few years.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
How can we obey God’s Word and honor marriage today, whether we are married or single?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Malachi 2:10-16; Romans 7:1-3
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. - Malachi 2:15a
TODAY IN THE WORD
Ask almost any couple married for a long time for the secrets of their success, and they are likely to have one thing in common. Those who stay together over the years, when it’s fun and when it isn’t, never have the word divorceas part of their marital vocabulary. One Christian couple married for forty-three years put it this way: “Stick to the basics: love, perseverance, commitment. Be true to each other in everything you do and say.”

That’s good advice for people who want to honor and obey God in their marriages. We have seen that God’s will for the marriage covenant includes a man and a woman joining together in a one-flesh commitment that takes priority over every other human relationship. It deserves high honor by all God’s people.

God reaffirmed through the prophet Malachi that marriage was to be a permanent, lifelong bond. Paul also used the permanence of marriage to illustrate the relationship of believers to the law of Moses.

The apostle argued that just as death breaks a marriage bond, our death to the law’s demands frees us to be joined to Christ. The principle for marriage is that as long as both partners are alive, they are bound to each other by their marriage covenant vows.

Divorce may be a reality, but it’s certainly not a command, as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees (Matt. 19:7-8, see September 9). Moses’ teaching on divorce (Deut. 24:1-4) begins with the word “If,” showing that this was a concession mercifully made to regulate a harmful practice that was already happening.

Malachi wrote about a century after the Jews had returned from the Babylonian exile. Their spiritual commitment had cooled considerably by this time, judging by the stinging rebukes God delivered through Malachi. The people were defrauding God of His tithes (3:7-12) and defrauding their spouses through divorce.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Many divorced people are the first to say they never wanted or intended their marriages to end.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ephesians 5:18-21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. - Ephesians 5:21
TODAY IN THE WORD
The chaplain in an Army basic training unit was regularly visited by homesick teenaged soldiers. Even though many of these young men had enlisted, they soon discovered that they didn’t like military life. When asked why they had enlisted in the first place, more than one soldier answered: “I wanted to get away from home because I was tired of people telling me what to do.” After a few weeks of drill sergeants telling them when to get up, when to eat, when to talk, when to move, and when to go to bed, they were more than ready to go back home.

Those young soldiers were learning an important lesson the Bible teaches repeatedly. All of us are under authority to someone, no matter who we are or what our relationships might be. Our choice is not whether we will be under authority, but whether we will respond in the right way.

God’s Word helps us to know how to respond to authority. “Submit yourselves, then, to God” (James 4:7a). “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority” (1 Peter 2:13a). “Obey your leaders, and submit to their authority” (Heb. 13:17a). Submission is proper for Christians because it’s what God expects of us. Submission also reflects the character of Christ, who submitted Himself to His Father and even to those who crucified Him.

As Christians, we are called to submit to the authorities God has placed in our lives. He even calls us to submit to one another “out of reverence for Christ.” This is what people do when they are Spirit-filled and in vital fellowship with each other and worshiping God. It’s hard to serve others when we are worried about ruling our own little kingdom.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Beginning with this study, we will consider some key issues that influence our attitude toward marriage.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ephesians 5:22-24
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. - Colossians 3:18
TODAY IN THE WORD
Bible teacher John MacArthur makes some observations that set today’s lesson in its biblical setting. Dr. MacArthur writes, “There are no classifications of Christians. Every believer in Jesus Christ has exactly the same salvation, the same standing before God, the same divine nature and resources, and the same divine promises and inheritance. . . . But in matters of role and function God has made distinctions.”

This is key to understanding not only Paul’s instructions to wives and husbands, but also this entire section of Ephesians, including relationships between parents/children and employers/employees (6:1-9). The teaching of a wife’s submission to her husband has generated so much controversy and misunderstanding that the simplicity of the text becomes obscured. Let’s try to understand what Paul is saying.

First, a wife’s submission is not imposed on her against her will. The words “submit to” in verse 22 are not original but were added by translators for clarification. The command is in verse 21, which calls on all believers to submit to one another--with wives, children, and employees then mentioned as specific examples of submission to authority.

The form of the command in the original language also indicates that submission should be a willing action on our part as people who desire to please God. MacArthur says, “Submission is to be a voluntary response to God’s will in giving up one’s independent rights.”

The world is far more interested in demanding and defending rights than in yielding them to someone. As believers, we have a different motivation and a higher goal. Choosing to lay our rights aside and serve others is an act of obedience and worship to the Lord (vv. 20-21), which Paul instructed both to wives and husbands.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
God doesn’t force us to behave. He wants us to obey Him out of love and gratitude for His goodness.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Ephesians 5:24-33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. - Ephesians 5:25
TODAY IN THE WORD
In his popular class on the Christian family, professor Howard Hendricks liked to tell about the student who came into his office one day with a worried look on his face. “Prof, I think maybe I love my wife too much.”

Hendricks asked him, “Do you love her as much as Christ loves the church?”

“Uh, no,” the startled student answered.

“Then get with it, man!”

Christian husbands have an assignment from the Lord that demands everything they have, even though they will never fulfill it perfectly. These verses are the complement to the wife’s role in marriage, and show how a believing husband should complement his wife’s loving, willing submission.

The “how” of a husband’s leadership is summed up in the concept of self-giving sacrifice--even to death. The model, of course, is Christ’s sacrifice for His bride, the church. Jesus didn’t lord His headship over the church, but served her.

In fact, Jesus said that while the world may play power games, it wasn’t to be that way among His people (Matt. 10:25-28). Servanthood is the standard for Christians in every relationship. Paul even suggested that a husband’s love can have a cleansing and purifying effect on his wife--which is possible when a husband leads the way in spiritual commitment and growth in his home.

Paul also ties a husband’s love for his wife to his care for his own body. Most of us are very good to ourselves, and that’s the point for husbands. Their wives are part of their bodies because when two people marry they become “one flesh” in every sense (v. 31).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The perfect marriage may not exist, but God’s standards are a wonderful goal to continue reaching for.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. - 1 Thessalonians 4:3
TODAY IN THE WORD
Trust is a priceless quality in a marriage. One man, married for some time, tells how his wife’s trust made all the difference for him during a hard time. “When I felt extremely defeated over a bad business decision, my wife gave me the gift of trust. 'Do what you think is best,’ she said. She could have destroyed me with a negative comment, but she chose to believe in me. That’s because we had a foundation of trust.”

It almost goes without saying that couples must be able to trust each other for a marriage to thrive. That trust has to extend to every area of the marriage, from finances to sex. Sexual purity is a part of marriage that God designed to be non-negotiable. A one-flesh relationship between a husband and wife is so intimate, and so exclusive, that there can never be room for anyone else.

We often think of sexual purity as an issue for single people as they face many temptations in our society. Singles do need to avoid sexual immorality, a term that covers all kinds of sexual sins.

But the Bible says sexual faithfulness is God’s will for all of His people. It’s part of our sanctification, the process of Christian growth by which we become more like Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us. Whether single or married, learning how to control our bodies is a vital part of what it means “to live in order to please God” (v. 1).

Married people do have a legitimate outlet for their sexual desires, but as human beings they face the same temptations as others. Paul gives us the key to maintaining faithfulness when he contrasts godly self-control with the “passionate lust” (v. 5) that drives many people into sin.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Because sexual faithfulness is a vital part of every believer’s life, we need to regularly check our defenses against lust.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 19:1-12
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. - Matthew 19:6
TODAY IN THE WORD
Some years ago a professional ice hockey goalie came up with a unique way to decorate his mask. Every time his mask took a blow that otherwise might have cut open his face or head, he painted a set of black stitches on the spot where the puck hit. Soon the mask was covered with these painted reminders of its invaluable protection to the goalie.

This vividly illustrates the protection that a couple can enjoy when their marriage is solidly anchored by faith in Christ and commitment to each other. Getting married doesn’t keep a husband and wife from taking the hard shots of life, but a strong marriage can help absorb the blows. That’s one of the blessings God grants to the people in a growing, lifelong marriage commitment.

Certainly, then, anything that threatens this union is contrary to God’s plan. Divorce is at the top of this list. Jesus affirmed both the permanence of marriage and the devastation of divorce when some Pharisees tried to trap Him (Matt. 19).

These teachers treated marriage and divorce as nothing more than pawns to try to snare Jesus. Their only concern was the debate of the day, which was how many legitimate reasons a person could use to divorce his wife. One group of rabbis said any excuse would do, while the other group said divorce was permitted only in cases of one partner’s unfaithfulness.

Of course, Jesus knew what His enemies were trying to do. So instead of choosing sides and inviting attacks, He redirected the issue where it belonged--God’s original plans for marriage. The one-flesh nature of marriage was never meant to be torn apart, any more than a human body was meant to be divided.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Today, we continue to pray for people going through the pain of divorce. We can also be grateful for some signs that our society is taking this problem seriously.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
Do you see anything wrong with this statement? “God designed my body to use food. Food is good and necessary, and my appetite is a God-given desire. So when my stomach feels hungry, I satisfy that hunger by eating.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that statement--as far as it goes. But our appetite for food is a very small part of who we are, and focusing on it misses our essence as beings made in God’s image and responsible to Him.

Sadly, some people in Corinth applied this same argument to their sexuality, which is also part of human being’s essence as God’s creatures. Their thinking went like this: “Sex is good, and our sexual urges are natural. So when our bodies desire sex, we satisfy that desire by having sex.” No big deal.

It’s a very big deal. As a preface to his argument against immorality, Paul laid down two principles. First, the fact that something may be “permissible” doesn’t mean it’s always good--especially if it brings a person into bondage. Eating is an example of a perfectly permissible, even necessary, activity that can become sin by overeating.

Paul’s second principle is found in verse 13. Our appetite for food cannot be equated with our sexual nature, because eating is a temporary physical activity that will pass away someday. But our bodies--meaning here our whole being, physical and spiritual--have a higher, eternal purpose. Christ’s resurrection guarantees that our physical bodies will be raised, and we will inhabit them forever.

God made us to glorify Him, not to live any way we want. When we join another person in a sexual union, we are creating a one-flesh relationship. Within marriage that’s good because that’s the way God intended it.

Outside of marriage, sexual relationships are incredibly destructive. Those who sin this way sin against their own bodies and against God.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Last Saturday we talked about having definite plans in place to deal with sexual temptation.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 7:1-9
The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. - 1 Corinthians 7:3
TODAY IN THE WORD
When the message of Christ penetrates a culture, it conflicts with practices that violate God’s standards. In the biblical world, pagan Roman practices, Jewish beliefs, and the gospel met head-on in places like Corinth, and cultural ideas had to be adjusted.

The Bible gives us examples of this clash in issues such as marriage and sexual relationships. Divorce and immorality were common in the Roman Empire, with evidence that some people may have married as much as twenty times. Jewish tradition devalued singleness and taught that a person who didn’t marry was disobeying God’s command to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen. 1:28).

Into this mixture came the teaching of God’s Word. The believers in Corinth struggled with moral issues such as correct behavior both inside and outside of marriage. They asked Paul for further instruction on several subjects, including marriage (v. 11).

The apostle’s opening statement might seem to elevate singleness above marriage, but Bible commentators believe that “not to marry” is too strong a translation of the original phrase, “not to touch a woman.” Paul was probably referring to gotcha146, saying that celibacy was good and not to be despised.

Paul fully sanctioned and blessed the sexual union of a man and woman in marriage. It’s possible that some married Christians in Corinth were abstaining from sex, believing that celibacy even in marriage was the best way to avoid sexual sin. Not so, said Paul. Denial of legitimate marital desires would create problems, not solve them.

Verses 7-9 clearly show that lifelong, purposeful singleness is a gift from God that is not given to everyone. The Bible values singleness and clearly teaches that, for those who make this commitment, one is a whole number.
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The diversity of the church as Christ’s body is one of His gifts to us. As Paul said, a body can’t be all hands or feet or eyes.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 7:10-16
Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. - Malachi 2:15
TODAY IN THE WORD
Author Phil Waugh offers this insightful summary of what is involved in a committed, Christ-centered marriage. “When a couple shares their wedding vows, they are vowing to God, each other, their families, and the community to remain steadfast in unconditional love, reconciliation, and sexual purity, while purposefully growing in their covenant marriage relationship. God’s intent is to bring wholeness to families through covenant marriage relationships.”

Today’s verses speak about this wholeness. God has a blessing for a marriage that reaches beyond even the joy of the relationship itself. It takes commitment to see the process through and enjoy that blessing. Waugh’s emphasis on the covenant nature of marriage underscores the fact that marriage vows are made before God and have the same force as any of His covenants.

Paul understood that marriage is a deeply spiritual union. He not only urged Christian couples to do everything possible to stay together, but he also urged widowed believers who wanted to remarry to marry only a believer (v. 39). Later, he warned the Corinthians about being joined to unbelievers.

Today’s section of Scripture leaves no doubt that God’s will for any marriage is permanence. The ideal is two Christians who marry and then grow together in love for each other and commitment to Christ.

However, even in homes where one person becomes a Christian after the marriage, divorce is to be avoided. In addition to the obvious benefit of an intact home, the believing partner brings God’s blessing to the family and may even help lead a lost spouse to Christ.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Biblical teaching on marriage goes against the grain of our culture--and even sincere Bible teachers are divided on whether the Bible allows for remarriage after certain cases of divorce.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 7:25-35
Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. - 1 Corinthians 7:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
Yesterday we saw an example of God’s larger purpose for marriage beyond the immediate concerns of the two people involved. In the case of a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian, that larger purpose includes the blessing of the home and children, and the possible salvation of the unbelieving partner.

With today’s verses Paul went further. He wanted Christians to know that regardless of their marital status, God’s overriding purpose for His people is that they live in single-minded devotion to Him.

Paul was not compromising his insistence on the sanctity and seriousness of a marriage commitment. Rather, he wrote with the passion of a person whose life was consumed with devotion to Jesus Christ, whatever that might cost in temporary comforts. And the kind of commitment Paul described wasn’t just for apostles, either. All of us are called to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness before all else.

This was the spirit in which Paul recommended the single life to believers who were not already married. We don’t know anything about the specific crisis he spoke of, whether it was immediate or in the near future for the Corinthians.

This lack of detail takes the focus off the first-century setting and reminds us that from the standpoint of eternity, time is short for all of us. We cannot afford the luxury of getting tangled up in things on earth that will keep us from “undivided devotion to the Lord” (v. 35).

Paul certainly wasn’t rendering negative value judgment on marriage; rather, he was giving Spirit-directed advice to people who needed to take these things into account as they sought to serve God.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Verse 31 is a challenge because we often have a hard time using our possessions without being controlled by them.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Proverbs 4:20-27
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. - Proverbs 4:23
TODAY IN THE WORD
Last year wasn’t a great year for NASA, which lost two probes to Mars. But the space agency was able to repair the out-of-service Hubble Space Telescope. “The brains of Hubble have been replaced,” one astronaut announced from the space shuttle Discoveryas two space-walking astronauts replaced Hubble’s “antiquated” computer with a new one. The Discoverymission also replaced one of the space telescope’s fine guidance sensors, instruments the size of a piano, that point Hubble in the right direction.

We could think of our lives before we knew Jesus Christ as damaged Hubble telescopes, floating uselessly in space. When Christ saved us, He replaced the old “computer” of our thinking with a renewed mind, “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). He also replaced the flawed guidance system of our sinful old nature with a new “sensor,” the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

Of course, knowing Christ doesn’t guarantee we will always think correctly or walk a straight path, because we are still saddled with the remnants of the old nature. But as Christians, we have every spiritual resource we need to live faithful lives. And when two believers come together in marriage, the effect should be to double their strength (Eccl. 4:9-12).

How do we become the kind of marriage partners who bring real spiritual strength to our marriages? It has to come from inside, from our hearts, where the issues of life are formed, and then flow outward to shape us and impact the people close to us. Since our hearts or spirits aren’t just blank slates, we have to be careful what we put into our spiritual data bank.

Proverbs has a wonderful word of encouragement and a warning for us along this line. The Bible uses the heart to represent our inner spiritual being, and as such it is the control center of life. But notice also how these verses give us solid advice about how to guard our hearts.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Are you the kind of person who goes through a mental checklist before you leave for work or take a trip? You know--keys, purse or wallet, cash, briefcase, lunch, cell phone, tickets, whatever.