MrsDrPoe: Filling the Void

Happy Theology Thursday all! I invite you to open your Bibles with me as we go through a few passages that have stuck in my mind through this week's studies and daily Bible reading.

Throughout the Bible, we can see examples of just and righteous men; these men are deemed thus by both action and inaction- by what they do and do not do. In Ezekiel 18:5-9, God defines a just man:

____Action________________

does what is lawful and right___ _______
restored his pledge to debtor__ _________
given his bread to the hungry__________
covered the naked with clothing___
withdrawn his hand from iniquity__________
executed true judgement between men be_ _________
walked in God's statutes______
kept God's judgements faithfully_ _

___Inaction_______
not eaten on the mountains
not lifted his eyes to idols
not defiled his neighbor's wife_
not approached woman during her impurity
not oppressed anyone
robbed no one by violence
not exacted usury (loan interest)
not taken any increase

Similarly, in the first verse of Psalm 15, David asks God, "Jehovah, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?" Verses 2-5 answer:

"He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the LORD;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved."

Sometimes as Christians, we think we're "good people" because we may have put a stop to things we were doing before we turned to the Lord: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, etc (Gal 5:19-21). While merely practicing the "don'ts" that are taught by the New Testament, we create a void in ourselves where these unholy desires/actions used to be.

Examine the parable of an unclean spirit's return in Luke 11:24-26. A demon leaves a person for a time but then decides to return. When he arrives, he finds his "home" in put in order, so he gathers seven other more wicked spirits to dwell with him in his host. Thus the last state of the man is worse that the first.

We can find ourselves in a similar situation if we just clean out our lives by eliminating unholy things in them. 2 Peter 2:20-21 tells us that "if, after [we] have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord...[we] are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for [us] than the beginning." These are the "3rd soil" in the parable of the sower: "Now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity." (Luke 8:14)

When we remove sinful things from our lives, we must replace them with righteous things- we must fill the void, "putting off...the old man...and putt[ing] on the new man" (Eph 4:17-24)- or we strongly risk falling back into the world. Consider Luke 11:33-36. This passage tells us that we should fill ourselves with light such that there is no part darkness. By filling ourselves with the Word of God and taking the actions described in the New Testament- visiting orphans and widows (Jas 1:27), loving the Lord will all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), loving our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), doing good to those who hate us (Luke 6:27), submiting to our husbands/loving our wives (Eph 5:22-33), etc. - we can become the righteous person described in Ezekiel and Psalm 15, and our lives will glorify the Lord. The key to being pleasing to God is striving to do the things He likes and to refrain from the things He does not.

One final note on the subject: just because the commands of God instruct us in works we should and should not be doing does not mean that we are in any way earning anything. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:8-10)

MrsDrPoe: Marriage

Good morning and happy Theology Thursday! As I mentioned yesterday, I am a new testament Christian, meaning I try to read the Bible daily and pattern my life and worship after the first century churches discussed in the new testament. Mr. Poe and I are members at a nondenominational congregation here in Atlanta. If you're ever in our neck of the woods, we suggest you visit!

A few disclaimers before I get to the actual subject at hand. I do not claim to know everything there is to know about the Bible (I don't think anyone can possibly claim to). Much of the knowledge that I have can be attributed to Bible study with others more knowledgeable than myself and general familiarity with the scriptures that stems from frequent reading and study. I also read (and will reference) books/material based on but apart from the Bible. Please understand that while I find other people's incites (written and spoken) to be useful in my understanding of the scripture, these are NO REPLACEMENT for the written word of GOD. I hope that you will open your Bibles and examine the passages I discuss and test my conjectures to ensure that they fit with the whole of the Bible.


So...Marriage. The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians tells us that marriage is not required of a Christian, and in fact, it is often "easier" for those who are unmarried to serve the Lord (7:7-9, 25-40). But often times we feel a sort of loneliness that only a spouse can fill. If we look at the beginning of the world, we can see that this desire to have an intimate relationship with another human is innate (Gen 2:18-25). And so, many of us study what the Bible has to say on the subject (Eph 5:22-33, 7-16, Matt 5:31-32, Mark 10:1-12, I Pet 3:1-7), figure we can handle it, and get married. Then we study our Bibles and try to grow as Christians, assuming that becoming better Christians will also help us to become better spouses. While this assumption is true, much of the study I have done lately would also suggest that the opposite is true - being better spouses can help us become better Christians.

We know that God hates divorce (Mal 2:16) and the only reason Christ allows for divorce is in the case of sexual immorality (Matt 5:31-32, Mark 10:1-12). So marriage is eternal, right? Sort of. While, as Christians, we are expected to, once married, remain married to the same partner till death do us part (excluding the one exception), Jesus also taught that marriage literally ends at death (Mark 12:18-27). So this unique, earthly relationship must serve some purpose (other than keeping us from being lonesome).

Throughout the Bible, the people of God have been referred to as His bride (Eze 16:8, Hosea, etc.). In the old testament, any time the children of Israel left the Lord to pursue the Baals or to look to foreign nations for deliverance, they were referred to as adulterous and a prostitute (Eze 16:15-59, Hosea, etc.). In the new testament, the analogy is carried over with the church being called the betrothed or bride of Christ (2 Cor 11:2, Rev 21-22, etc.). So in living in this marriage relationship in a human plane, we can better understand our relationship to Christ, our bridegroom and the Holy Lamb of God. In closer examination of the passage in Eph 5, we see that wives are to submit to their husbands...just as we are to submit to the rule of Christ in our lives, obeying Him in everything...and that husbands are to love their wives...just as Christ loved the church and gave himself on the cross for her.

I recently read "The Sacred Romance" by John Eldredge and Brent Curtis. This book focuses on the fact that we are the betrothed of Christ and that we should strive to have an intimate relationship with Him. Christianity is not about a list of rules to follow (although submitting ourselves to obedience of the word of God is commanded of us)...it's about loving God/Christ and having a relationship with Him through constant prayer and study. While (as I mentioned in the disclaimer) not all of the information presented in this work follows the scripture as I understand it, I think this book did an excellent job of emphasizing that when we replace (purposely or not) this relationship with God with other things...even seemingly "good" things like school, work, a human relationship, sports, vacations, etc....we are committing adultery in our marriage to Christ!


Mr. Poe and I are currently in a marriage Bible class on Wed nights and Sun mornings. We are studying from some material entitled "A Marriage Made in Heaven: Personal Transformation in Marriage through the Fruit of the Spirit" by David Maxson (for husbands and wives). Mr. Maxon asserts that by building the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:16-26, II Pet 1:5-11) in our marriage, we can (probably) improve our earthly marriages and (definitely) improve our spiritual "marriage".

The lessons have been great so far. The past two meetings we have discussed developing patience and kindness in our marriages. Mr. Maxon refers to these characteristics as the breaks and the gas in an argument. Having patience means simply applying the breaks and not striking back (verbally or physically) when you and your spouse are arguing. Typically, we think if we're doing this we're performing quite well. But Christ takes it a step further in Matt 5:38-48 (a passage in today's daily Bible reading). We are to not only show patience in not slapping back when someone slaps us, allowing someone to take our tunic, and walk a mile with someone who compels us to...we are to show kindness by providing the other cheek for a slap, giving up our cloak as well, and walking two miles instead of the one. Kindness is hitting the gas in an argument ("in reverse" if you will)...not just refraining from evil, but returning good for evil and loving our "enemies" (our spouses definitely qualify at times). Thus by practicing both patience and kindness in our most intimate yet difficult relationship on this earth, we are improving our spiritual selves greatly "to the praise of His glory" (Eph 1)!