2025-02-17
Matthew 19:6 NKJV
This may come as a surprise to you, but the main purpose of marriage is not to produce children. Couples who cannot give birth are as married as couples who can. Jesus said, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (v. 5 NKJV). When God looks at a parent and child, He sees two. When God looks at a brother and sister, He sees two. But when God looks at a husband and wife, He sees one. “Joined together” means “to be glued to.”
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck with the person you married? Well, you are! Marrying and becoming one flesh is not what two people do for each other, but what God does for them. Marriage is not a relationship joined together by culture, or the law, or sex, or even love. Marriage is what God joins together. And the good news is, when God joins you together, He can keep you together.
Today the most popular reason for issuing a divorce decree is “irreconcilable differences.” But Jesus went to the heart of the matter – which is the matter of the heart. “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (v. 8 NKJV). God can soften your hearts toward one another, and He can open your hearts toward one another. You say, “But I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.” Try God! He can change the heart of your spouse and give you a new future together.
Soul food: Gen 42-43; Luke 10:25-37; Ps 33:1-12; Prov 5:7-14
2025-02-16
Galasiërs 3:6 AFR53
Ons dink dat Abraham ‘n stralekrans gehad het. Nie so nie. Nie een keer nie, maar twee keer gooi hy sy vrou onder die bus. Soos hulle deur Egipte gereis het, het Abram vir Sarai gesê: ‘Jy is ‘n baie mooi vrou; ek is bang die Egiptenare gaan my doodmaak sodat een van hulle jou as vrou kan vat, so kom ons sê vir hulle jy is my suster’ (sien Genesis 12:11-13). As jy dink dat dit erg is, doen Abraham dieselfde roetine ‘n tweede keer terwyl hy en Sara in die streek van Negev woon (sien Genesis 20).
Hoekom gooi God nie tou op met Abraham nie? Want Abraham gooi nie tou op met God nie! Abraham het uiteindelik ‘n plek in sy pad met God bereik waar sy résumé lees: ‘Teen alle verwagtinge in het Abraham geglo dat hy nog die stamvader van baie volke sou word op grond van God se belofte: ‘Jou nageslag sal so baie wees soos die sterre aan die hemel.’ En Abraham se geloof het nie verswak nie, al het hy baie goed besef dat sy eie liggaamlike vermoëns reeds heeltemal gedaan was – hy was al omtrent 100 jaar oud – en dat sy vrou Sara nie meer kinders kon hê nie. Abraham het nie getwyfel aan God se belofte nie; inteendeel, sy geloof het sterker geword en so het hy eer aan God gegee. Hy was absoluut daarvan oortuig dat God enigiets kon doen wat Hy beloof het. Inderdaad, God het Abraham regverdig verklaar omdat hy in Hom geglo het!’ (Romeine 4:18-22 NLV).
Let die woorde: ‘sy geloof het sterker geword,’ op. God se plan is nie om jou weg te gooi nie, maar om jou geloof te ontwikkel en jou te gebruik om heerlikheid aan sy Naam te bring.
Sielskos: Eks 20:3; Hand 14:1-18; 1 Sam 5:1-5
Galatians 3:6 NKJV
We think of Abraham with a halo. Hardly. Not once, but twice he throws his wife under the bus. As they traveled through Egypt, Abram says to Sarai, “You’re a beautiful woman; I’m afraid the Egyptians will want to kill me so someone can have you for a wife, so let’s tell them you’re my sister” (See Genesis 12:11-13). Pharaoh does take Sarai into his harem – giving Abram, her “brother,” a bunch of sheep, cattle, donkeys, servants, and camels. Rather than feeling guilty and coming clean, Abram simply says, “Thank you very much.” And if you think that’s bad, when Abraham and Sarah are in the Negev later on, recorded in Genesis 20, he does the whole “she’s my sister” routine a second time.
Why doesn’t God just give up on him? Because Abraham doesn’t give up on God! Abraham eventually reached the place in his walk with God where his résumé reads: “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:18-22 NKJV).
Note the words “strengthened in faith.” God’s plan is not to discard you, but to develop your faith and use you to bring glory to His name.
Soul food: Exo 20:3; Acts 14:1-18; 1 Sam 5:1-5
2025-02-15
Kolossense 3:15 ABA
God wil hê dat jy ‘n rustige gemoedstoestand moet hê. Sy Woord sê: ‘Christus het vir julle vrede gegee en daardie vrede moet julle lewe regeer. God het julle gekies om een te wees, die een liggaam van Christus, sy kerk. Daarom moet julle in vrede met mekaar lewe. Julle moet ook dankbaar wees’ (vers 15 ABA).
Geen posisie of besitting is dit werd as jy nie vrede het nie; geld, status, populariteit – dis alles sinloos as jy vrede kort. Jy kan eenvoudig nie ‘n prys op die waarde van vrede plaas nie. Baie van ons bestee ons lewens om die suksesleer te probeer uitklim, maar elke keer wat ons hoër beweeg, verloor ons meer van ons vrede en vreugde, om nie eers van tyd saam met ons familie te praat nie. Ons lewens word deur die druk en stres om vas te klou aan dit wat ons bereik het, verteer. Ons is egter nooit waarlik suksesvol as ons nie vrede het nie.
Sommige van ons doen verskeie werke om dit wat die wêreld voor ons swaai en sê: ‘Jy moet hierdie hê om waarlik gelukkig te wees,’ te verkry. Ons kry daardie dinge, maar ons het steeds nie enige vrede nie. Romeine 14:17 sê vir ons: ‘As God koning is in ons lewe, gaan dit nie om wat ons eet of drink nie; dit gaan daaroor dat ons reg sal lewe en die vrede en die blydskap sal vertoon wat die Heilige Gees in ons bewerk’ (NLV).
God wil hê dat jou behoeftes oorvloedig vervul moet word en dat jy in ‘n posisie moet wees om ander mense te seën. Moet egter nie iets probeer bekom as jy dit nie vreedsaam kan hê nie.
Sielskos: Gen 40-41; Luk 10:13-24; Ps 28; Spr 5:3-6
Colossians 3:15 NKJV
God wants you to have a peaceful state of mind. His word says: “Let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ’s] one body you were also called [to live]” (v. 15 AMPC).
No position or possession is worthwhile if you don’t have peace; money, status, popularity – it’s all meaningless if you lack peace. You simply cannot put a price on the value of peace. Many of us spend our lives trying to climb the ladder of success, but every time we go up one more rung, we lose more of our peace and joy, not to mention time spent with our family. Our lives are consumed with the pressure and stress of trying to hold on to what we gained. But we are never truly successful unless we have peace.
Some of us work several jobs to acquire what the world dangles in front of us, saying, “You must have this to be truly happy.” We get those “things,” but we still don’t have any peace. Romans 14:17 tells us, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink” – it is not things that money can buy or status can secure – but it is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
God wants you to have your needs met abundantly and to be in a position to bless others. But don’t seek to have anything if you cannot have it peacefully.
Soul food: Gen 40-41; Luke 10:13-24; Ps 28; Prov 5:3-6
