The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Mark 10:1-9, “Getting up, (Jesus) went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.
2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.
3 And He answered and said to them, ‘What did Moses command you?’
4 They said, ‘Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.’
5 But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
6 ‘But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.
7 “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER,
8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
9 “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’”

Anyone who believes that Jesus was only concerned about the ultimate home of a person’s residence after death (i.e., heaven or hell), has simply overlooked the passage above where Jesus responded to the Pharisees’ question on divorce.

Moses allowance of divorce (Deut. 24) occurred under a special circumstance. The man divorced his wife, she married another man, who died. Now, the first man was forbidden
to marry the woman again. In substance, Moses was guarding the homelife of the Nation of Israel.

Jesus is effecting guardianship of homelife in much the same way as Moses. We need to guard our homelife today, too! Children grow into adulthood embracing the same values (or lack thereof) their parents embrace. If marriage is a genuine expression of love between the parents, it will most likely be the same with their children. “More is caught than taught.” If alcoholic beverages are frequent in the home, arguments and fights will likely occur between parents. It’s all but a “given” that the children will enter into marriages that allow and produce the same.

The forces of evil are more than ‘on the alert’ today. The proliferation of alcohol exacerbates and destroys homelife. The absence of a spiritual environment literally destroys the home! And the lesson that comes to the youth in an ungodly atmosphere ultimately destroys the nation.

Reading the Bible, praying, depending on the LORD throughout the day is a spiritual diet that produces a wholesome homelife. It was true in Jesus’ day on Earth; it was true in the era of Moses. It is true today. Yet, like the lack of medicine leads to an increase in illness, so, ignoring the LORD leads only to devastation and destruction in life.

“Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it” (Psa. 37:5).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom