2005-06-24
Good Morning Cherished Ones,
At this juncture in our discussion of sexual immorality, it’s necessary to be reminded that God spends a lot of time in the Scriptures on this subject because He knows how important to mankind’s salvation not committing is. He wants us to realize it’s importance too. GA 5: 19-21, “What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before; those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.” In the course of my sharing my faith with you, I am trying to give God every opportunity to speak for Himself, because He is best at doing this. That’s why there are so many citations from the Bible included. This way God teaches both you and me what His will for us is.
The Son used hyperbole in writing MT 5: 29-30 to shock a resistant human reader into paying attention to what He is says. “So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is much better for your to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.” Sadly, many people never read the Bible, or if they do, they ignore what they don’t like in it. With the onslaught to the media’s and some local and state government’s denial of God’s existence and thus, denial of God’s values, many people have come to believe that fornication before marriage and adultery afterward is the norm. Such will never be the case, because in the end it is one’s relationship with God or lack thereof that will seal his eternal fate.
What this passage of the Sermon on the Mount addresses itself to is stimuli that exist to veer people away from the paths of righteousness. Christ is a practical Being. He is omniscient, so of course He knows that so many people are sinning. He also knows the human propensity for rationalization. Paul’s inspired words in 1 COR 6: 9-10 show this. “Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God’s Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves-none of these will possess God’s Kingdom.” Satan cleverly sets his snare for them. In view of REV 12: 12, which reminds us that Satan’s anger is generated from his knowing that he has only a limited time to do evil on the earth before God will take him and his followers out, Satan is vying for as many people as he can get for his side.
All of this is nothing new. Several passages in PR deal with the same issues. King Solomon had to have known that sexual immorality was rampant in Israel to write the advice given in the early chapters. Solomon understand from God that the problem of immorality and stupidity begins in the mind and ego. PR 3: 5-7, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on human understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Never let yourself think that you are wiser than you are; simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong.” Later in PR 3: 15-16, Solomon goes on to say, “Wisdom is more valuable than jewels; nothing you could want can compare with it. Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honor.” The point is driven home in PR 4: 23-24, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. Never say anything that isn’t true. Have nothing to do with lies and misleading words.” PR 5: 15, 18-19, & 21 deal directly with sexual immorality. “Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone…So be happy with our wife and find your joy with the girl you married-pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love…The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, He is watching.” While those words are pointed at males, the ladies do not go without advice in this book of wisdom. What lover of God’s word cannot appreciate the 22 wonderful descriptions of the capable wife given in PR 31: 10-31, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet? I hope you will review them, as I have today.
Not all men and women are beautiful to look at according to Madison Avenue’s values, but each child of God has a special beauty about him or her, a God-given beauty that appeals to the opposite sex and is the basis for a lasting and fulfilling marital relationship that includes a physical component. That beauty comes from the inner self that is willing to be a “salmon swimming upstream” and faithfully love and obey God. It pains me to think that so many women in our society feel the need to wear a lot of make-up and dye their hair, because they have been conditioned to think that their natural beauty isn’t good enough. This same self-loathing has spread to some of the male population too. What a tragedy that men feel they have to be tough and never show the emotion they have except in anger (for fear of being branded as weak sissies)! Some of the most powerful men I know put this aside in the retreat program my husband and I are active in, and they have never looked more strong and capable when they do that. Women who come to terms with their imperfections and grow in the faith in the Lord have never been so beautiful in their lives as they are at the closing service at their Via de Cristo weekends.
PRAYER: O Most Heavenly Lord, each week as I spend time writing about a topic that is so difficult, You show me just how important it is to You. We have the power to defeat Satan through refusing to give in to his temptations. We have the power to turn off that indecent TV program, put aside that trashy book, or refuse to read that lurid magazine article. You have put us together in a marvelous way, so that we can make the decision not to put ourselves in compromising situations in the workplace or anywhere else we might be. The question is: why do some of us use this power and others not? Only You know the answer to that question, and we stand before Your throne today to ask for Your help in making righteous decisions (without being self-righteous or judgmental ourselves). MT 5: 3, reminds us, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven.” We know that without You and the power which Christ gave us to battle Satan to victory in His name [EPH 1: 18-20], we are impotent in the face of Satan’s evil. However, with it, we are victorious. You gave us Your Son on the cross to die for us and to be resurrected, so that we could be saved and one day resurrected too. We dedicate ourselves not to wasting a single drop of His blood shed and to believing that He not only gave us the power to live righteously but authorized us to use that power against the enemy successfully. Christ told us in MT 5: 16, “In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things You do and praise your Father in heaven.” We love you, Dearest Abba, and pledge our lives to living in a way that is pleasing to You. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I’m led to begin writing about the vital issue of integrity. Our Lord gives us real insight into how to do this, even in the face of strong temptation from the advisary. We are so blessed that the Lord gives us practical advice. Even through it was written long ago, it applies today and will do so in the future. It is not hard to understand living the Lord’s will. The tough part is turning our backs on temptation, both overt and subtle. However, the way the Scriptures are written, anyone wanting to pull himself out of the morass of doing evil can do so. The Lord never promised it would be easy, but He does make His will easy to understand. We must remember that it is not our place to judge others. After all, who would have ever thought that the citizens of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Israel’s most ferocious enemies at one point in her history, would ever be convicted and willing to come to faith in God with the work that a once-recalcitrant Jonah would do? Remember LK 1: 37 & MK 10: 27, “ For nothing is impossible with God.” Praise be to Him, Who enables us to be saved, to reclaim our lives from Satan’s grip, and to have the hope of the resurrection to a life of eternal bliss with Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn