Marriage, Money, and Monogamy
This week's goodness is on Hebrews 13:4-5:
As you can tell, I've been wringing the goodness out of Hebrews this month. This week's verses are an odd marriage between matrimony and money. They do have something in common, and it does relate to our salvation.
Money makes all kinds of promises about the future. If you get more money, you get more future, and you have better stuff in it. If you get enough money, the curse of toil will be broken and you can live in heaven on earth, never lifting a finger to work again. If you get sick, money will pay for you to get well. If your enemies come against you, money will make them go away. Money is power, money is hope, and despite what the Beatles told you, money will increase your prospects in love. We invest it, gamble it, hoard it, and spend it. It is everything in our modern society. People sell themselves into debt (slavery) in order to get their grubby hands on just a bit more of it.
In our relationship with God, our marriage to him as the Bride of Christ, picture what role money plays when it encourages us to seek it, to fall in love with it, and to make it the center of our life's efforts. That's right: Money is a dirty, dirty tramp! Or it can be, if you don't keep the relationship business-only...
Money inflates our hopes and increases our appetite. When money is to be had, our current lot in life seems insufficient. The thing is, God gave us our lot in life. Would you leave your earthly spouse if they couldn't afford to make the house as nice as your swinging neighbor could? When we drop God to seek a salary, that's what we're doing.
Picture waking up tomorrow with no money. No bank account balance. No wallet full of crumply bills all facing in different directions. No change between the couch cushions. No stocks and bonds. No piggy bank or change jar. Credit cards all shredded. Is that a scary picture? Do you believe that God could still take care of you if you never saw another dollar bill again? What if you never heard God's voice again, but still had all of the money?
You can only serve one God. If money becomes that god, guess whose marriage bed the Bride of Christ is defiling? Money isn't supposed to be our god. It's only supposed to be a tool. People lived for thousands of years without it. They all had enough to eat, places to sleep, and fruitful, fulfilling lives. Why run out on God for something which isn't even necessary, let alone awesome?
Keep the marriage bed pure. Don't take another god in God's place. Look at money and say "this is just a tool. it is made of paper, the same as I have in the bathroom. it is not and cannot ever be as amazing as God. it is not worthy of my worship." God will never leave us or forsake us. Can we say the same about money? Be faithful to the faithful one.
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.
As you can tell, I've been wringing the goodness out of Hebrews this month. This week's verses are an odd marriage between matrimony and money. They do have something in common, and it does relate to our salvation.
Marriage
First a little background. I've talked with Christians, Muslims, and Atheists, and done my share of reading about marriage. Here's what I've come to believe on the subject. Marriage is:- Optional: The old testament was a giant baby-making festival, but the new testament is all about the connection to God. Marriage can be a distraction if you're too focused on it. Therefore, if you can do without the baby-making, you can opt out and focus on God. This is ideal, but obviously not for everyone.
- Between one man and one woman: God created woman for man out of one of his ribs, not the whole set. During the population explosion of Israel in the old testament, I believe God tolerated polygamy in certain cases, but the new testament speaks against it directly. Besides, if the best number of wives/husbands is "zero", how does "many" make any sense? You need only look at the Muslim world to see the curse it brings.
- Public: If we're supposed to honor the marriage bed and keep it pure, we need to know who is married. There is no such thing as a secret marriage. That's why we have all of these complicated social customs involving giant cakes, gaudy rings, lounge singers, and limousines.
- Permanent: Marriage is a life-long pair bond. The only way it can break is when one partner dies, or breaks the contract through adultery. There are no temporary marriages, like some sects of Islam practice.
- Binary: You're either married, or you're not. Nobody's "sort of married." Engaged isn't married. Dating isn't married. "Remembering to use birth control" isn't married.
The marriage between the Church and God
The way men and women interact is like a model of how God interacts with his Church. (When I use a capital C, I mean the worldwide Church, as in every Christian in the world, not just the group of Christians you huddle together in a room with on Sundays.) Let's see how that looks:- Optional: Not everyone is a Christian. Only in this case, it's better to be "married" as the Church than to be without a relationship with God. We need salvation.
- Between God and the church: There aren't "many paths to God." You can't be both a Christian and a Buddhist. Or both a Christian and a Witch. The church is Christians, and Christians have a relationship with God.
- Public: In the new testament, we're urged not to hide our faith. We're not the creepy guy/gal who pries his/her wedding ring off for a night on the town. We're faithful, and faithful people admit they're in a relationship. Sometimes that means we miss out on certain choices, or that we get hassled for who we're with, but marriage is a choice.
- Permanent: We're in it for eternity. You can't just get sprinkled with holy water as a kid, and then go off and be a Muslim. Being a Christian is a relationship, and you have to stick with it. We're not just Christians on Christmas and Easter.
- Binary: Either you're a Christian or you're not. You're not sort of a Christian, and maybe sort of something else. At some point, you make a choice: This is what I am.
Money (is a dirty dirty tramp)
Money is a tricky thing. It's the life blood of our society. It's incredibly useful, but it's also a serious danger. Why on earth would Paul put it in the same verses as he puts the warnings about marriage? Because money wants to be in the marriage bed with you instead of God!Money makes all kinds of promises about the future. If you get more money, you get more future, and you have better stuff in it. If you get enough money, the curse of toil will be broken and you can live in heaven on earth, never lifting a finger to work again. If you get sick, money will pay for you to get well. If your enemies come against you, money will make them go away. Money is power, money is hope, and despite what the Beatles told you, money will increase your prospects in love. We invest it, gamble it, hoard it, and spend it. It is everything in our modern society. People sell themselves into debt (slavery) in order to get their grubby hands on just a bit more of it.
In our relationship with God, our marriage to him as the Bride of Christ, picture what role money plays when it encourages us to seek it, to fall in love with it, and to make it the center of our life's efforts. That's right: Money is a dirty, dirty tramp! Or it can be, if you don't keep the relationship business-only...
Money inflates our hopes and increases our appetite. When money is to be had, our current lot in life seems insufficient. The thing is, God gave us our lot in life. Would you leave your earthly spouse if they couldn't afford to make the house as nice as your swinging neighbor could? When we drop God to seek a salary, that's what we're doing.
Picture waking up tomorrow with no money. No bank account balance. No wallet full of crumply bills all facing in different directions. No change between the couch cushions. No stocks and bonds. No piggy bank or change jar. Credit cards all shredded. Is that a scary picture? Do you believe that God could still take care of you if you never saw another dollar bill again? What if you never heard God's voice again, but still had all of the money?
You can only serve one God. If money becomes that god, guess whose marriage bed the Bride of Christ is defiling? Money isn't supposed to be our god. It's only supposed to be a tool. People lived for thousands of years without it. They all had enough to eat, places to sleep, and fruitful, fulfilling lives. Why run out on God for something which isn't even necessary, let alone awesome?
Keep the marriage bed pure. Don't take another god in God's place. Look at money and say "this is just a tool. it is made of paper, the same as I have in the bathroom. it is not and cannot ever be as amazing as God. it is not worthy of my worship." God will never leave us or forsake us. Can we say the same about money? Be faithful to the faithful one.
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