Here we are getting ready for another school year. Hard to believe Kim and I have a college freshman, one in the tenth grade, and another in the eighth. The other night we were buying school supplies and clothes and I notice a new look from and old shoe - Converse. I grew up wearing the light weight canvass shoe. This one felt like a ten pound weight around your ankle. I realized, this isn't your daddy's shoe. This is definitely not old school Converse.
We've heard over and over again about old verses new school. I always remind people that athletes today may be bigger, stronger, and faster, but "Pistol"Pete still holds the record pre-three point shot of 64 points in an SEC basketball game. Imagine how many he would have drained if they would have had the trey back when he was at LSU? Newer is not always better.
Consider for a moment how rare it is to see people today who have been married and stayed together for twenty plus years. Had a friend the other day celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary and he's not old! That's a dinosaur in today's world. Few of our children's frinds at school have parents still married who gave birth to them. How sad! The wise man was right when he said, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD"(Prov 18:22). And that's coming from a man with many multiple wives! Solomon also wrote,
"Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth"(Prov 5:15-18). Solomon isn't talking about drinking from another persons well or watering trough (so to speak). He's using poetic imagery to describe a man whose imbibing in every persons well (if you get my drift). Solomon is advocating monogamy and purity in the marriage bond.
Even the prophet Malachi chided the children of God for not being faithful to their mates. God declared that He "hates divorce"(Malachi 2:16). We think of the verses in Scripture that speak of God as love. You'd better know any time the Bible says God despises something, you'd better set up and take note. Rembmer the "six things" the Lords hates, seven that are an abomination to Him (Prov 6:16-19)?
I realize that our morals are not too terribly different than what Paul faced in first century Roman world (read Rom 1 if you want to be shocked), or from the time of Malachi, or even back to the time of Solomon. But the old way is still better, the old school, doing things God's way. God's way is always better. It may not always be easy to live right, but living right still pays in this life, and it definitely pays in the life to come. Paul said, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:23). Why not try the old way?