6 'Now Life' Practices
1. Be Content
Hebrews 13:1–6
Keep loving each other like family. Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
This is why we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, and I won’t be afraid. What can people do to me?”
The author of Hebrews teaches us to be content with what we have, whether a little or a lot. Life is too short to be bitter and angry about your achievements in life. No matter where you are in life, God gave you a life worth living.
The author of Hebrews said we should be free from the love of money. His reasoning is, ‘Why would you love money if the Lord is your helper?’ But, he’s not only concerned with money, because he says, ‘What can people do to me?’ Money is just an illustration of contentment. Maybe you’re discontent because you don’t have as much money as you would like. But perhaps you have plenty of money, and you’re discontent with your health or anything else. His point is, ‘God’s in this, so relax!’
In Christ, God has given life in abundance.
John 10:10, “The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed so that they could live life abundantly.”
Abundance means having more than you need. God is a provider, but he provides in plenty. Maybe you aren’t experiencing God plentifully providing in abundance. But, I would challenge you to think about how much more you have than what you need. You likely have abundance compared to your needs. And if you think you don’t have abundance, it might be that you’re comparing yourself to other people, not to needs.
So, take the little or lot you have, be content, and enjoy life with it, as we discussed on Sunday.
The Apostle Paul said he had to learn contentment.
Philippians 4:11–13, “I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.”
How did Paul learn to be content? What did he actually learn?
He learned through experience, which is how Solomon learned in Ecclesiastes 3, discussed on Sunday. He had plenty at times and very little at other times. Paul seems to say is that you could be discontent in any circumstance. Sometimes you have more than you need, and you’re still unhappy with it. We say money can’t buy happiness, and that’s true. You can be rich and miserable. You can also be poor and happy. Money isn’t tied to happiness or contentment, and yet we often pursue money or blame money when we are discontent—if I just had this much more, if I just could pay off this debt, and so on.
So, what’s the secret to contentment? Paul said he could endure anything through the power of the one who gives him strength. The secret to contentment is knowing Jesus. It’s focusing on Jesus. It’s living like Jesus. It’s remembering the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus and reveling in the promises of Jesus that allow us to be content in any circumstance.
Keep loving each other like family. Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
This is why we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, and I won’t be afraid. What can people do to me?”
The author of Hebrews teaches us to be content with what we have, whether a little or a lot. Life is too short to be bitter and angry about your achievements in life. No matter where you are in life, God gave you a life worth living.
The author of Hebrews said we should be free from the love of money. His reasoning is, ‘Why would you love money if the Lord is your helper?’ But, he’s not only concerned with money, because he says, ‘What can people do to me?’ Money is just an illustration of contentment. Maybe you’re discontent because you don’t have as much money as you would like. But perhaps you have plenty of money, and you’re discontent with your health or anything else. His point is, ‘God’s in this, so relax!’
In Christ, God has given life in abundance.
John 10:10, “The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed so that they could live life abundantly.”
Abundance means having more than you need. God is a provider, but he provides in plenty. Maybe you aren’t experiencing God plentifully providing in abundance. But, I would challenge you to think about how much more you have than what you need. You likely have abundance compared to your needs. And if you think you don’t have abundance, it might be that you’re comparing yourself to other people, not to needs.
So, take the little or lot you have, be content, and enjoy life with it, as we discussed on Sunday.
The Apostle Paul said he had to learn contentment.
Philippians 4:11–13, “I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.”
How did Paul learn to be content? What did he actually learn?
He learned through experience, which is how Solomon learned in Ecclesiastes 3, discussed on Sunday. He had plenty at times and very little at other times. Paul seems to say is that you could be discontent in any circumstance. Sometimes you have more than you need, and you’re still unhappy with it. We say money can’t buy happiness, and that’s true. You can be rich and miserable. You can also be poor and happy. Money isn’t tied to happiness or contentment, and yet we often pursue money or blame money when we are discontent—if I just had this much more, if I just could pay off this debt, and so on.
So, what’s the secret to contentment? Paul said he could endure anything through the power of the one who gives him strength. The secret to contentment is knowing Jesus. It’s focusing on Jesus. It’s living like Jesus. It’s remembering the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus and reveling in the promises of Jesus that allow us to be content in any circumstance.
2. Enjoy Your Marriage
Proverbs 5:15–23
Drink water from your cistern and flowing streams from your well. Should your fountains flood outside, streams of water into public places? They are yours alone and not for you to share with others.
May your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her intoxicate you all the time; always be drunk on her love. My son, why would you lose your sense with a mysterious woman and embrace another?
The Lord’s eyes watch over everyone's path, observing all their ways. The wicked will be caught by their evil acts, grabbed by the ropes of their sin. Those without instruction will die, being misled by their stupidity.
In this proverb, Solomon uses the idea of a well, a stream, or a cistern to describe the fidelity between a husband and his wife. You know that it’s a metaphor because of the ridiculousness of it. If you had a well on your property that was overflowing, it would be good to share with others. But Solomon says not to take your stream of water into public. Instead, he says we should drink from the well to become drunk or intoxicated on the well’s water.
Three things are happening here. First, Solomon said not to share your wife with others. Second, Solomon taught the husband not to go to other women. Third, Solomon warned that you cannot hide your sin from God. Let’s look at each, beginning with the first.
Have you ever opened a soda bottle, and it started to spray everywhere, so you put your mouth over it? That’s the reaction I think Solomon was talking about when he described the fountain of the wife’s affections. This isn’t an excuse for adultery but an explanation.
Solomon warned that the water would flow out into public places if you don’t drink it in. But, it’s not always easy to drink in. Her affections are a flowing or gushing stream. She’s not just there for when you want a drink; the well requires intentional care to keep from overflowing.
You can see how couples get into complicated sexual arrangements. Solomon warned that the wife’s affections would overflow into public places. But then he said not to ‘share’ her with others. Why would a husband willingly share his wife with others? I think the second part gives some explanation.
The second part warned the husband not to go to other women. You can see what is happening here. In the Ancient Near Eastern culture, the concept of adultery only applied to women. In most ancient societies, men couldn’t commit adultery. The idea didn’t exist. It was normal, accepted, and even expected that men would have multiple sexual partners, whether formal—wives, concubines—or informal—prostitutes.
Imagine what happens. Your well at home is full of water and overflowing, but you’re going to the neighbor’s well to draw water. What happens to your well? It flows into public places. That’s the analogy. And again, I don’t make excuses for adultery, and I don’t think Solomon did either. But, this seems to be the pattern. When the husband goes to other women, the wife is led to stray herself.
You can almost imagine the argument that ensues. The wife, “You go off with other women and leave nothing for me!” The husband, “If you want to go, then go!” So the wife becomes what effectively in the culture qualifies her as a prostitute, going to other men, while the husband goes to other women.
That kind of sexual arrangement may result in divorce or not, but it always drives a wedge in the relationship, creating enmity between the husband and wife. And the kids see and carry that burden as well.
Even though Solomon has no legal reason to forbid men to go to other women, Solomon makes it clear how valuable it is for the husband and wife to be loyal to each other. He paints a picture of the wife as the one who can ultimately please the husband and the husband to fulfill the needs of the wife so that they come together more beautifully than they ever could have imagined.
That’s where I think the wisdom of the scriptures is beautiful. In many religions, ‘sin’ is merely breaking the law of a god or the gods. But, in Christianity, sin is when we misuse things God created as good to become destructive. It’s the illustration of Adam and Eve in the Garden. God didn’t give Adam Eve and many other wives, just Eve.
And God didn’t give Eve more Adam’s for when her Adam was off at work or distracted by different Eve’s. One Adam and one Eve was perfect for God to say through Moses, “This is why a man leaves his father and mother to embrace his wife, and they become one body.”
People say, “What we do in private doesn’t affect anyone else.” This is the third part. We want to say that our sexuality is our own business. It’s personal, and no one—even the Bible or the church—has a right to say how I should feel or think about these things. I get that. It’s deeply personal. And for that reason, I think the Bible addresses sexuality throughout.
Solomon warns that God is present, even in private matters. Nothing is hidden from him. It’s easy to get roped in by sin, to become bound to it. And sin is crazy like this. It ties you tighter and tighter the more you allow it in your life. When the husband and wife start to compromise their fidelity, it leads to a sort of open sexuality that makes marriage meaningless.
So, it's no wonder many people choose to have open sexual lifestyles in place of traditional marriages today. Some people get excited because divorce rates are dropping. They’re dropping because marriage is becoming increasingly meaningless in our world, so people just are getting married. That was happening in Solomon’s day, and it’s happening now.
Sin constrains you when you let it in so that you cannot escape. Solomon warned that God would catch the wicked in their evil. There is nothing reserved for private lives or behind closed doors. Nothing is so personal that God isn’t present.
And that’s not an invasion of privacy, because as I already described, sin is sin because it destroys. How much is God’s love that he even wants to redeem what is in private so that you can experience the joys of marriage the way God designed it?
This second ‘NOW LIFE’ practice challenges us to enjoy marriage and everything that goes with it.
Drink water from your cistern and flowing streams from your well. Should your fountains flood outside, streams of water into public places? They are yours alone and not for you to share with others.
May your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her intoxicate you all the time; always be drunk on her love. My son, why would you lose your sense with a mysterious woman and embrace another?
The Lord’s eyes watch over everyone's path, observing all their ways. The wicked will be caught by their evil acts, grabbed by the ropes of their sin. Those without instruction will die, being misled by their stupidity.
In this proverb, Solomon uses the idea of a well, a stream, or a cistern to describe the fidelity between a husband and his wife. You know that it’s a metaphor because of the ridiculousness of it. If you had a well on your property that was overflowing, it would be good to share with others. But Solomon says not to take your stream of water into public. Instead, he says we should drink from the well to become drunk or intoxicated on the well’s water.
Three things are happening here. First, Solomon said not to share your wife with others. Second, Solomon taught the husband not to go to other women. Third, Solomon warned that you cannot hide your sin from God. Let’s look at each, beginning with the first.
Have you ever opened a soda bottle, and it started to spray everywhere, so you put your mouth over it? That’s the reaction I think Solomon was talking about when he described the fountain of the wife’s affections. This isn’t an excuse for adultery but an explanation.
Solomon warned that the water would flow out into public places if you don’t drink it in. But, it’s not always easy to drink in. Her affections are a flowing or gushing stream. She’s not just there for when you want a drink; the well requires intentional care to keep from overflowing.
You can see how couples get into complicated sexual arrangements. Solomon warned that the wife’s affections would overflow into public places. But then he said not to ‘share’ her with others. Why would a husband willingly share his wife with others? I think the second part gives some explanation.
The second part warned the husband not to go to other women. You can see what is happening here. In the Ancient Near Eastern culture, the concept of adultery only applied to women. In most ancient societies, men couldn’t commit adultery. The idea didn’t exist. It was normal, accepted, and even expected that men would have multiple sexual partners, whether formal—wives, concubines—or informal—prostitutes.
Imagine what happens. Your well at home is full of water and overflowing, but you’re going to the neighbor’s well to draw water. What happens to your well? It flows into public places. That’s the analogy. And again, I don’t make excuses for adultery, and I don’t think Solomon did either. But, this seems to be the pattern. When the husband goes to other women, the wife is led to stray herself.
You can almost imagine the argument that ensues. The wife, “You go off with other women and leave nothing for me!” The husband, “If you want to go, then go!” So the wife becomes what effectively in the culture qualifies her as a prostitute, going to other men, while the husband goes to other women.
That kind of sexual arrangement may result in divorce or not, but it always drives a wedge in the relationship, creating enmity between the husband and wife. And the kids see and carry that burden as well.
Even though Solomon has no legal reason to forbid men to go to other women, Solomon makes it clear how valuable it is for the husband and wife to be loyal to each other. He paints a picture of the wife as the one who can ultimately please the husband and the husband to fulfill the needs of the wife so that they come together more beautifully than they ever could have imagined.
That’s where I think the wisdom of the scriptures is beautiful. In many religions, ‘sin’ is merely breaking the law of a god or the gods. But, in Christianity, sin is when we misuse things God created as good to become destructive. It’s the illustration of Adam and Eve in the Garden. God didn’t give Adam Eve and many other wives, just Eve.
And God didn’t give Eve more Adam’s for when her Adam was off at work or distracted by different Eve’s. One Adam and one Eve was perfect for God to say through Moses, “This is why a man leaves his father and mother to embrace his wife, and they become one body.”
People say, “What we do in private doesn’t affect anyone else.” This is the third part. We want to say that our sexuality is our own business. It’s personal, and no one—even the Bible or the church—has a right to say how I should feel or think about these things. I get that. It’s deeply personal. And for that reason, I think the Bible addresses sexuality throughout.
Solomon warns that God is present, even in private matters. Nothing is hidden from him. It’s easy to get roped in by sin, to become bound to it. And sin is crazy like this. It ties you tighter and tighter the more you allow it in your life. When the husband and wife start to compromise their fidelity, it leads to a sort of open sexuality that makes marriage meaningless.
So, it's no wonder many people choose to have open sexual lifestyles in place of traditional marriages today. Some people get excited because divorce rates are dropping. They’re dropping because marriage is becoming increasingly meaningless in our world, so people just are getting married. That was happening in Solomon’s day, and it’s happening now.
Sin constrains you when you let it in so that you cannot escape. Solomon warned that God would catch the wicked in their evil. There is nothing reserved for private lives or behind closed doors. Nothing is so personal that God isn’t present.
And that’s not an invasion of privacy, because as I already described, sin is sin because it destroys. How much is God’s love that he even wants to redeem what is in private so that you can experience the joys of marriage the way God designed it?
This second ‘NOW LIFE’ practice challenges us to enjoy marriage and everything that goes with it.
3. Play with your Kids
Deuteronomy 6:1–9
These are the commandments, the regulations, and the case laws that the Lord God commanded me to teach you to follow in the land you are entering to possess. You will fear the Lord God by keeping all his regulations and commandments that I give you all your life’s days so that you will live a long time—you and your sons and daughters.
Listen to them, Israel! Follow them carefully so things will go well for you and so you will continue to multiply exactly as the Lord, your ancestors’ God, promised you, in a land full of milk and honey.
Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! The Lord is the only one! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children.
Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and are out and about, lying down, and getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and your city’s gates.
Moses challenged the Israelite parents to remember the Lord's teachings and teach their children as they go about their lives. Sometimes we think education needs to be formal, like you have to hold a Bible study with your family at a specific time every day or week as your kids have class at school.
Moses said we should teach our kids as we live life with them. I don’t think that means we can’t or even shouldn’t do more formal teaching. But it definitely means we need to have active involvement in our kids’ lives that you surround by God's instructions.
That’s why I challenged you as one of your ‘Now Life’ practices to play with your kids. Play games together as a family. Play sports. Ride bikes. Go on hikes or drives. Go to the beach. Whatever your kids like to do, do it with them.
Every generation has to combat the challenges of changing times. When you invest time in your kids’ interests, you form a deeper relationship with them. That relationship gets you a hearing for the Gospel. Your kids won’t follow Jesus just because you do. But, the more your kids experience your love, the more seriously they will take your convictions.
It doesn’t always have to be playing, though. Moses said to recite the laws to your kids as you go about life. So, take your kids with you places when you go. They need to see you live your life outside the home to see how you live out your devotion to Jesus around other people. And if you’re afraid of that being boring for them, try to make it not boring!
And wherever you, whatever you do, whenever it is, talk to your kids. Like, really talk to them. What do they think? What do they want in life? What do they love? A lot of parents—myself included—struggle to start meaningful biblical conversations sometimes. That’s OK. Just start talking to them, and the opportunities to speak into their lives will present themselves in time.
One thing you can do intentionally is to tell them stories about what God has done. These can be Bible stories that you read to them. It can be stories about things happening in your life right now. God is at work, and that means you have a story to tell. And tell them stories about what God has done before in your life—the when-I-was-your-age stories.
Live your life with your kids. Play with them. Talk with them. Listen to them. And as a bonus, they’ll keep you young.
These are the commandments, the regulations, and the case laws that the Lord God commanded me to teach you to follow in the land you are entering to possess. You will fear the Lord God by keeping all his regulations and commandments that I give you all your life’s days so that you will live a long time—you and your sons and daughters.
Listen to them, Israel! Follow them carefully so things will go well for you and so you will continue to multiply exactly as the Lord, your ancestors’ God, promised you, in a land full of milk and honey.
Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! The Lord is the only one! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children.
Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and are out and about, lying down, and getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and your city’s gates.
Moses challenged the Israelite parents to remember the Lord's teachings and teach their children as they go about their lives. Sometimes we think education needs to be formal, like you have to hold a Bible study with your family at a specific time every day or week as your kids have class at school.
Moses said we should teach our kids as we live life with them. I don’t think that means we can’t or even shouldn’t do more formal teaching. But it definitely means we need to have active involvement in our kids’ lives that you surround by God's instructions.
That’s why I challenged you as one of your ‘Now Life’ practices to play with your kids. Play games together as a family. Play sports. Ride bikes. Go on hikes or drives. Go to the beach. Whatever your kids like to do, do it with them.
Every generation has to combat the challenges of changing times. When you invest time in your kids’ interests, you form a deeper relationship with them. That relationship gets you a hearing for the Gospel. Your kids won’t follow Jesus just because you do. But, the more your kids experience your love, the more seriously they will take your convictions.
It doesn’t always have to be playing, though. Moses said to recite the laws to your kids as you go about life. So, take your kids with you places when you go. They need to see you live your life outside the home to see how you live out your devotion to Jesus around other people. And if you’re afraid of that being boring for them, try to make it not boring!
And wherever you, whatever you do, whenever it is, talk to your kids. Like, really talk to them. What do they think? What do they want in life? What do they love? A lot of parents—myself included—struggle to start meaningful biblical conversations sometimes. That’s OK. Just start talking to them, and the opportunities to speak into their lives will present themselves in time.
One thing you can do intentionally is to tell them stories about what God has done. These can be Bible stories that you read to them. It can be stories about things happening in your life right now. God is at work, and that means you have a story to tell. And tell them stories about what God has done before in your life—the when-I-was-your-age stories.
Live your life with your kids. Play with them. Talk with them. Listen to them. And as a bonus, they’ll keep you young.