I have been studying and breaking down some of the successful YA (Young Adult) novels that have come out in the last twenty years and I see this recurring theme of self-discovery through failed (or quasi-successful) romantic encounters and relationships. I understand why it hits home to young adults. I've been there. In a painful time, people are looking for an identity and how others made them feel helped to form that identity. The crush. What they did or didn't do to act on those feelings. Abuse. Longing. Betrayal.
Sigh. It all falls so far short of what God wanted for humanity. The laws Moses gave to Israel show that. God wants us to have purity. Purity is what will make us complete. The law could provide a fence but it could never produce the life. The life has to come from God. No matter what has gone on before Jesus can bring integrity and wholeness into the most shattered existence.
Here are a couple of passages that just seem to echo in my mind these days.
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-16a ESV
"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God." - 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 ESV
To be completely transparent... this last birthday was a hard one for me. It seems like a bunch of forgotten hurts and disappointments got dredged up from the bottom of my soul. I want to be happy and thankful for what I have but at the same time parts of my identity were formed by events and encounters long ago and my hopes and dreams are intertwined with those things in some ways. I wanted to be more powerful by the time I got to be this age. Maybe I thought that one day I'd have more to give and if I had this overwhelming capacity or great resources I could use that power to shield others from what I went through that damaged me.
I can't escape my birthday (I tried but it didn't work) but those two passages are like diamonds to me. They are priceless tools.
Because of Jesus, we can be involved with people and yet 'regard no one according to the flesh'. Tingles or no tingles. Like or dislike. Respect or little that merits that respect. We can care and not have an identity based on what anyone else thinks or says. How others make us feel no longer matters in that arena.
Secondly, We don't have to accuse or excuse ourselves. Our new identity is God-given. God is aware of us. We don't acquit ourselves. God will one day commend us and each one who believes in Him.
I'm sitting here typing this praying that God would give our generation creativity in communicating these truths to young and old. It is so needed. The things young minds are faced with now are so potentially harmful and fragmenting. We had crazy things in our lives back when we were growing up. I can't imagine having to grow up now.
God, Help us, please. Give us the wisdom to apply what you have taught us in our times of crisis but also help us to freely give out what you have given to us.
"But Peter said, 'I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!' " - Acts 3:6 ESV
This can be our legacy.
--
Showing posts with label Sexuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sexuality. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2018
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
The Other Woman - Part 5
I'm reading Genesis 38 over and over again this morning and I see so much of modern culture in the account of Tamar. While Joseph is off in Egypt Judah is living the life of a rascal. He is married but has a girlfriend in a village. He has children with this woman and all kinds of intrigue follows.
Tamar marries one of Judah's sons but that man dies and the culture of sleeping around continues. The scriptures are quite graphic in their description of deception and sexuality.
The account makes me think of this passage...
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." - Matthew 5:31-32 ESV
Not a passage often preached on by 'grace preachers'. It seems to forbid remarriage. It doesn't. It uncovers the reality of what broken relationships can do.
If you read Genesis 38, and I suggest you do, you will see that Tamar has needs and the double standard in her culture puts her in a difficult situation. She used her sexuality to get what she needs and what everyone knew she deserved in that culture. Was it right? No. But Judah set an unjust standard and everyone became a victim of his compromise.
The women in our culture need men to be men. It is easy to condemn a person for their loose ways but what made them that way? Nor should a husband who is married to someone who was married before condemning his wife for bringing what 'was' into what 'is'.
"Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." - 1 Peter 3:7 ESV
She has battle scars. Respect her. Love her. The hard hard world hurt her and she had to adapt. Be a covering and a friend. She is on loan from a God who cherishes her.
Jesus paid for all sexual sin on the cross. He died for the victims and for the people who caused a wild west culture.
As men let's look at Judah and Joseph and make wise choices. Who will we be?
"He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away." - Proverbs 6:32f ESV
Amen.
--
Tamar marries one of Judah's sons but that man dies and the culture of sleeping around continues. The scriptures are quite graphic in their description of deception and sexuality.
The account makes me think of this passage...
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." - Matthew 5:31-32 ESV
Not a passage often preached on by 'grace preachers'. It seems to forbid remarriage. It doesn't. It uncovers the reality of what broken relationships can do.
If you read Genesis 38, and I suggest you do, you will see that Tamar has needs and the double standard in her culture puts her in a difficult situation. She used her sexuality to get what she needs and what everyone knew she deserved in that culture. Was it right? No. But Judah set an unjust standard and everyone became a victim of his compromise.
The women in our culture need men to be men. It is easy to condemn a person for their loose ways but what made them that way? Nor should a husband who is married to someone who was married before condemning his wife for bringing what 'was' into what 'is'.
"Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." - 1 Peter 3:7 ESV
She has battle scars. Respect her. Love her. The hard hard world hurt her and she had to adapt. Be a covering and a friend. She is on loan from a God who cherishes her.
Jesus paid for all sexual sin on the cross. He died for the victims and for the people who caused a wild west culture.
As men let's look at Judah and Joseph and make wise choices. Who will we be?
"He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away." - Proverbs 6:32f ESV
Amen.
--
Friday, June 16, 2017
The Other Woman - Part 4
Some men will shower women with affection but in and of itself that behavior isn't spiritual. The fall has made men into people who 'satisfy' and 'deprive'.
"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV
Satisfying others, including a spouse or lover, is just an advanced form of self-satisfaction.
Mankind is made to glorify God. Men and woman do this in overlapping ways.
A woman needs the subjective experience of being, 'holy in body and spirit' in order to feel complete. A man can never do that for her. He can contribute to an environment where that can happen. He can be a covering and a catalyst but he can't satisfy her in that deepest need of her soul.
"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." - Genesis 2:18 ESV
Likewise, one woman can help one man to be the man he was meant to be.
"Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct." - 1 Peter 3:1-2 ESV
This subjection is not subservience. It is a present and loving participation in the union. The fall has created in women a need for continuous validation. A believing woman knows she is holy because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. She Is seated together with Christ in Heavenly places no matter what her circumstances may suggest. Other people can reinforce that and provide a hedge for that to be learned and experienced.
A Godly husband points his wife to the holiness she has in Christ and a Godly wife says, in word and deed, that she is with her husband as he pursues his sometimes elusive calling.
"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV
The 'other woman' is attracted to the stability of a man who seems to be pleasing someone else. She doesn't know that by defiling herself she only moves farther away from true satisfaction. Holiness is the only thing that can give her true 'wholeness.'
The man sees another way to satisfy himself by satisfying or depriving another human being but he also destroys his own soul in the process because it is a soul attachment that creates a present and future distraction (because of guilt) from realizing and experiencing his identity in God's calling.
Marriage, the only sanctioned sexual relationship, is a good place to glorify God but it is not the only place. If God gives us this, the closest of unions, so be it. It will never provide the ultimate satisfaction. God Himself Is that wholeness. Jesus came to give that to us and it is ours if we have Him and dwell in the covering thinking with Him provides.
--
"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 ESV
Satisfying others, including a spouse or lover, is just an advanced form of self-satisfaction.
Mankind is made to glorify God. Men and woman do this in overlapping ways.
A woman needs the subjective experience of being, 'holy in body and spirit' in order to feel complete. A man can never do that for her. He can contribute to an environment where that can happen. He can be a covering and a catalyst but he can't satisfy her in that deepest need of her soul.
"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." - Genesis 2:18 ESV
Likewise, one woman can help one man to be the man he was meant to be.
"Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct." - 1 Peter 3:1-2 ESV
This subjection is not subservience. It is a present and loving participation in the union. The fall has created in women a need for continuous validation. A believing woman knows she is holy because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. She Is seated together with Christ in Heavenly places no matter what her circumstances may suggest. Other people can reinforce that and provide a hedge for that to be learned and experienced.
A Godly husband points his wife to the holiness she has in Christ and a Godly wife says, in word and deed, that she is with her husband as he pursues his sometimes elusive calling.
"And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him - a threefold cord is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV
The 'other woman' is attracted to the stability of a man who seems to be pleasing someone else. She doesn't know that by defiling herself she only moves farther away from true satisfaction. Holiness is the only thing that can give her true 'wholeness.'
The man sees another way to satisfy himself by satisfying or depriving another human being but he also destroys his own soul in the process because it is a soul attachment that creates a present and future distraction (because of guilt) from realizing and experiencing his identity in God's calling.
Marriage, the only sanctioned sexual relationship, is a good place to glorify God but it is not the only place. If God gives us this, the closest of unions, so be it. It will never provide the ultimate satisfaction. God Himself Is that wholeness. Jesus came to give that to us and it is ours if we have Him and dwell in the covering thinking with Him provides.
--
Thursday, June 15, 2017
The Other Woman - Part 3
"Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance. Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, 'I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.' ... When the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren." - Genesis 29:16-18, 31 ESV
At times I have wondered that western civilization has moved in the direction of monogamy. So much of the Bible, and history, shows men with more than one wife but in God's economy, there is no 'other woman' each woman is the apple of His eye. She stands and sits alone in that she is irreplaceable and precious.
Rachel and Leah were each a wife and the 'other woman' at the same time. Rachel had her husband's love and desire but Leah gave him children and the need she met produced tangible results.
The other woman may be a sexual predator or she may be a very kind person who believes that the man she is with will change or make a change to eventually put her first. The man may dangle that status in front of her eyes. The third scenario is that she just doesn't know she is the 'other', even though she may suspect it, and then at the point of discovery decisions need to be made. Perhaps she is slow to make them because of the emotional consequences of separation.
As I read these accounts I marvel at God's grace and mercy. You could say, 'Why did He even allow situations like these?' but clearly He lets us be who we are and these biographical accounts instruct us don't they? Who among us hasn't not felt second class for one reason or another? Perhaps we console ourselves that at least we contribute something even if we are not 'the special one'. Then in other areas we are in Rachel's place loved but useless. Our production is off and our self-worth is wrapped up in our 'doing'.
"I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings," - Psalm 17:6-8 ESV
Let me say it again. God has no 'other' in relation to you. You are the apple of His eye. You are what He looks at. If you get close enough to Him you will see your reflection in His eye as He looks lovingly at you.
Knowing God spoils us for manipulating scenarios. We are no longer victims nor do we feel the need to victimize. Grace and love fill a void and we can make hard choices to swim against the current. When you are special you can do that.
--
At times I have wondered that western civilization has moved in the direction of monogamy. So much of the Bible, and history, shows men with more than one wife but in God's economy, there is no 'other woman' each woman is the apple of His eye. She stands and sits alone in that she is irreplaceable and precious.
Rachel and Leah were each a wife and the 'other woman' at the same time. Rachel had her husband's love and desire but Leah gave him children and the need she met produced tangible results.
The other woman may be a sexual predator or she may be a very kind person who believes that the man she is with will change or make a change to eventually put her first. The man may dangle that status in front of her eyes. The third scenario is that she just doesn't know she is the 'other', even though she may suspect it, and then at the point of discovery decisions need to be made. Perhaps she is slow to make them because of the emotional consequences of separation.
As I read these accounts I marvel at God's grace and mercy. You could say, 'Why did He even allow situations like these?' but clearly He lets us be who we are and these biographical accounts instruct us don't they? Who among us hasn't not felt second class for one reason or another? Perhaps we console ourselves that at least we contribute something even if we are not 'the special one'. Then in other areas we are in Rachel's place loved but useless. Our production is off and our self-worth is wrapped up in our 'doing'.
"I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings," - Psalm 17:6-8 ESV
Let me say it again. God has no 'other' in relation to you. You are the apple of His eye. You are what He looks at. If you get close enough to Him you will see your reflection in His eye as He looks lovingly at you.
Knowing God spoils us for manipulating scenarios. We are no longer victims nor do we feel the need to victimize. Grace and love fill a void and we can make hard choices to swim against the current. When you are special you can do that.
--
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
The Other Woman - Part 2
It is always valuable to look at the 'first mention' of any subject in the scriptures. Most, but not all, subjects are introduced in Genesis and then wrapped up in the book of Revelations.
The first 'other woman' scenario we see in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 16 with Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, 'Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!' But Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.' Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, 'Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' She said, 'I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.' The angel of the LORD said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit to her.' The angel of the LORD also said to her, 'I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.' And the angel of the LORD said to her, 'Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.' So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.' " - Genesis 16:1-13 ESV
Wow, There is so much here isn't there? Human nature is on display. God's love and mercy is also. Men and women make bad decisions out of need but God is merciful to us.
The last mention is darker. Society itself has become adulterous.
"Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.' And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: 'Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.' And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, 'Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her... And the angel said to me, 'The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.'' - Revelation 17:1-7, 15-18 ESV
This 'other woman' concept shows the systemic failure of the natural person to cope with their needs apart from God. Problems compound into even more complex problems with a victim until the system consumes itself in the end.
But there is hope. God is merciful and has a merciful provision for the individual. The system... not so much.
Hagar found out she was not God's 'other woman.' He had a loving provision for her.
--
The first 'other woman' scenario we see in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 16 with Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, 'Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!' But Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.' Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, 'Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' She said, 'I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.' The angel of the LORD said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit to her.' The angel of the LORD also said to her, 'I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.' And the angel of the LORD said to her, 'Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.' So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.' " - Genesis 16:1-13 ESV
Wow, There is so much here isn't there? Human nature is on display. God's love and mercy is also. Men and women make bad decisions out of need but God is merciful to us.
The last mention is darker. Society itself has become adulterous.
"Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.' And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: 'Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.' And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, 'Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her... And the angel said to me, 'The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.'' - Revelation 17:1-7, 15-18 ESV
This 'other woman' concept shows the systemic failure of the natural person to cope with their needs apart from God. Problems compound into even more complex problems with a victim until the system consumes itself in the end.
But there is hope. God is merciful and has a merciful provision for the individual. The system... not so much.
Hagar found out she was not God's 'other woman.' He had a loving provision for her.
--
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
The Other Woman - Part 1
For the last few weeks, I have been thinking about the concept of the 'other woman'. In a way, it is a taboo subject but it is an important one to know and understand because it applies to our relationship to God and His relationship to us.
Who is the other woman and why does she exist at all? Someone only becomes the other woman because mankind is fallen. Fallen men fantasize and can lead dual, or even multiple, lives and fallen women are placed in pressurized situations and they settle or opt for choices that allow benefits that have extreme compromises that damage their souls.
"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' " - John 8:31-32 ESV
"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." - James 4:4 ESV
This is a multi-part post and we will dive deep into this subject and I believe it will be very edifying and life changing for both the reader and the author. This is only an introduction and not as satisfying perhaps because a subject is introduced but not concluded with a clear thorough application.
Let me just say this...
Jesus has given us a solution for any connection to 'otherness.' The bonds are broken in Him. Each of us is loved with an everlasting love that resolved the needs of men and of women in a pure a satisfying way without compromise.
--
Who is the other woman and why does she exist at all? Someone only becomes the other woman because mankind is fallen. Fallen men fantasize and can lead dual, or even multiple, lives and fallen women are placed in pressurized situations and they settle or opt for choices that allow benefits that have extreme compromises that damage their souls.
"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' " - John 8:31-32 ESV
"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." - James 4:4 ESV
This is a multi-part post and we will dive deep into this subject and I believe it will be very edifying and life changing for both the reader and the author. This is only an introduction and not as satisfying perhaps because a subject is introduced but not concluded with a clear thorough application.
Let me just say this...
Jesus has given us a solution for any connection to 'otherness.' The bonds are broken in Him. Each of us is loved with an everlasting love that resolved the needs of men and of women in a pure a satisfying way without compromise.
--
Monday, February 8, 2016
Spiritual Autonomy And Sexuality
Spiritual autonomy is a wonderful thing. It is the ability and right to govern ourselves. When the writers of the American Declaration of Independence spoke about 'inalienable rights' that is one of the things they were referring to.
A liar loses their spiritual autonomy. Why? They have taken the right God gave them to be autonomous and surrendered it. They have usurped authority and somewhere in the back of their mind they feel that the one who granted them freedom is chasing them. Autonomy is lost.
"Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." - Psalm 51:6-7 ESV
It is no coincidence that the age of accountability is closely linked to the age of sexual awakening. This is often the time in a person's life when they begin to hide or display themselves to others in exaggerated and deceptive ways.
"and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" - Matthew 19:5 ESV
I am so happy when I hear of a young couple who is getting married. I know that this is the beginning of a great adventure. They both finally have an avenue to deal with their sexuality (among many other things of course) with someone else. Those who were hiding won't need to hide anymore. They now have someone who they can share their life with for better or for worse.
Marriage isn't necessary for spiritual autonomy. People can have truth that gives them the ability to operate in the light in every situation and instance. Everyone can live in transparency towards God. God does however use marriage in an amazing way in people's lives.
We were born to be ourselves but when needs go unmet people create masks. No one wearing a mask can truly say they are free.
Biblical sexuality is private in nature. The doctrine isn't but the rest of it is. Many cultures have made it a public issue but exposure isn't the answer. Exposure can not exorcise shame or guilt.
Autonomy and interdependence go hand in hand. People need people. There is no economy without commerce. God's transactions are grace transactions. Autonomy just means that a person, group or nation is free to govern themselves without oppression.
This is a sensitive subject but if your sexuality is keeping you in bondage then going to God is the answer. He made us as sexual creatures. He has a way for us to live in the light for every area of our life. Even this one.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:16-18 ESV
Yes. Those without Christ are condemned already. Somewhere in the back of their mind they know they have transgressed holiness and there is no remedy. Some work for appeasement. Others just run and hide for as long as they can. Others recreate God in their own image to create a false sense of security.
No one can run forever and God has only ever been satisfied with one person. Jesus is the answer. Jesus was the only answer for the woman caught in the act of adultery and He Is the only answer for us.
"...And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.' " - John 8:11b ESV
Let Him say that to you. We all need to hear it. It is what gives us the ability to operate in our inalienable right of spiritual autonomy.
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A liar loses their spiritual autonomy. Why? They have taken the right God gave them to be autonomous and surrendered it. They have usurped authority and somewhere in the back of their mind they feel that the one who granted them freedom is chasing them. Autonomy is lost.
"Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." - Psalm 51:6-7 ESV
It is no coincidence that the age of accountability is closely linked to the age of sexual awakening. This is often the time in a person's life when they begin to hide or display themselves to others in exaggerated and deceptive ways.
"and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" - Matthew 19:5 ESV
I am so happy when I hear of a young couple who is getting married. I know that this is the beginning of a great adventure. They both finally have an avenue to deal with their sexuality (among many other things of course) with someone else. Those who were hiding won't need to hide anymore. They now have someone who they can share their life with for better or for worse.
Marriage isn't necessary for spiritual autonomy. People can have truth that gives them the ability to operate in the light in every situation and instance. Everyone can live in transparency towards God. God does however use marriage in an amazing way in people's lives.
We were born to be ourselves but when needs go unmet people create masks. No one wearing a mask can truly say they are free.
Biblical sexuality is private in nature. The doctrine isn't but the rest of it is. Many cultures have made it a public issue but exposure isn't the answer. Exposure can not exorcise shame or guilt.
Autonomy and interdependence go hand in hand. People need people. There is no economy without commerce. God's transactions are grace transactions. Autonomy just means that a person, group or nation is free to govern themselves without oppression.
This is a sensitive subject but if your sexuality is keeping you in bondage then going to God is the answer. He made us as sexual creatures. He has a way for us to live in the light for every area of our life. Even this one.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:16-18 ESV
Yes. Those without Christ are condemned already. Somewhere in the back of their mind they know they have transgressed holiness and there is no remedy. Some work for appeasement. Others just run and hide for as long as they can. Others recreate God in their own image to create a false sense of security.
No one can run forever and God has only ever been satisfied with one person. Jesus is the answer. Jesus was the only answer for the woman caught in the act of adultery and He Is the only answer for us.
"...And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.' " - John 8:11b ESV
Let Him say that to you. We all need to hear it. It is what gives us the ability to operate in our inalienable right of spiritual autonomy.
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