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“The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.”
-Proverbs 5:22
The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. That frustrates us quite a bit. I know it frustrates me. I see so much wickedness in the world, and usually the worst people are those with the most money and the most power.
Sure, some crimes are punished in this life. Sometimes we catch the bad guys and give them what they deserve. But sometimes they get a great lawyer who gets them out of the punishment.
I think we would all wish for a more just world. One where there’s always a cop around right when someone cuts you off. One where every criminal leaves behind a vital clue to his identity. One where nice women stop going out with total jerks.
But the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, and it doesn’t seem like that is ever going to change.
That phrase is based on something Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount. It is in the context of loving your enemies. That’s a difficult thing to command, but it comes because of an important truth – vengeance is the Lord’s.
Bad guys aren’t always going to have it so sweet. One day, they will have to stand before God and give an account. They will be punished for their sins. And not just their overt crimes, but also their thoughts and words. Every moment of their lives will come under examination, and they will be punished.
I take comfort in that, but it also concerns me. See, I haven’t really committed any crimes (besides speeding once in a while or something like that), but I have certainly committed sins, which is far worse. In crime we offend as fallen law, but in sin we offend a perfect God. When the Bible tells me that my thoughts will be judged, I suddenly remember all the times my thoughts were drenched in lust, pride, and hatred. What is it that I deserve from God? Nothing good – that is clear. I may not have killed anyone, but I have wanted to before. I may not have committed adultery, but my thoughts have not been pure. And Jesus tells us that to look with lust on someone is to commit adultery in your heart, and to be unduly angry at someone will be liable to Hell.
On second thought, I don’t want justice. I don’t want justice at all, because that rain is falling on me not as a just man, but an unjust one. I don’t even deserve that much. If I get judged by my own sin, then I am a dead man.
Death would be the right punishment for me, but that doesn’t mean I have to pay it. In love, Jesus came to earth to die in my place, so that I may have eternal life. On the Cross, He took upon Himself my sin and clothed me in His righteousness, so I can stand before the Father unashamed.
We are given this gift through faith. If you repent of your sins, rejecting them and turning toward God, and believe in Jesus, you can be saved.
The other option is to be ensnared by your own sin. You may feel the rain on your today, but there is a day coming where you will have to answer for what you’ve done.
Showing posts with label Proverbs 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Proverbs 5. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
“For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.”
-Proverbs 5:21
I used to pride myself on being a good kid. I didn’t sneak out or sleep around or even cuss. Outwardly, I was a moral kid. I grew up in the church and knew all of the rules, and I followed them. Even after I left the church, I still kept myself away from those blatant sins.
It’s really not that hard to keep sins hidden, even if they are blatant. People have affairs for years and are never caught. People do drugs for years and no one ever knows. People will lie every time they open their mouths, and we will elect them to public office. If you are careful, you can keep a public image that is very different than your private one.
Sometimes these sins are exposed, and we, as the public, gasp in surprise and horror. We had no idea that person was like that! The tabloid papers live for this sort of thing.
I was like that. I had my private sins that no one knew about. My thoughts and desires were littered with pride, lust, hatred, bitterness, and ambition, but I didn’t let on in front of others. To everyone else, I was a good kid.
You can get far in life hiding your sins, but there’s a big problem – you can’t hide them from God. Verses like this remind us that God knows even our thoughts.
This verse is in the context of sexual sin. Don’t have sex outside of marriage, it tells us, and a good reason why not is because God sees you, even if no one else does. Even if you are just looking at porn in a dark apartment with the shades drawn, God knows. Even if it is only in your thoughts, He keeps record of it.
A lot of people question whether a good God can condemn people to Hell. The real question is this – how could a good God NOT condemn you to Hell after what you were thinking about yesterday? See, goodness cuts both ways. God is good, yes, but you are not. What is God supposed to do with you?
What He does with us is the most loving act in all of history. He sent His Son to die on our behalf. Jesus, when He was on that Cross, took the penalty for our sin upon Himself. In repentance and faith, we can accept His free gift of eternal life, even though we don’t deserve it.
I haven’t stopped sinning since I became a Christian. I don’t try to hide them nearly as much, but I fear that people still think I am a good person. I’m not. I’m just a FORGIVEN person. There’s a huge difference.
In that moment I was saved, I was given the Holy Spirit to help guide me. While I still sin, He is there to help me not to sin. He is molding me into something better. He is molding me into someone who actually gets excited by the thought that God is watching. I know He is taking care of me. I know He has secured me for forever. And I know that I am still forgiven, even when I stumble.
-Proverbs 5:21
I used to pride myself on being a good kid. I didn’t sneak out or sleep around or even cuss. Outwardly, I was a moral kid. I grew up in the church and knew all of the rules, and I followed them. Even after I left the church, I still kept myself away from those blatant sins.
It’s really not that hard to keep sins hidden, even if they are blatant. People have affairs for years and are never caught. People do drugs for years and no one ever knows. People will lie every time they open their mouths, and we will elect them to public office. If you are careful, you can keep a public image that is very different than your private one.
Sometimes these sins are exposed, and we, as the public, gasp in surprise and horror. We had no idea that person was like that! The tabloid papers live for this sort of thing.
I was like that. I had my private sins that no one knew about. My thoughts and desires were littered with pride, lust, hatred, bitterness, and ambition, but I didn’t let on in front of others. To everyone else, I was a good kid.
You can get far in life hiding your sins, but there’s a big problem – you can’t hide them from God. Verses like this remind us that God knows even our thoughts.
This verse is in the context of sexual sin. Don’t have sex outside of marriage, it tells us, and a good reason why not is because God sees you, even if no one else does. Even if you are just looking at porn in a dark apartment with the shades drawn, God knows. Even if it is only in your thoughts, He keeps record of it.
A lot of people question whether a good God can condemn people to Hell. The real question is this – how could a good God NOT condemn you to Hell after what you were thinking about yesterday? See, goodness cuts both ways. God is good, yes, but you are not. What is God supposed to do with you?
What He does with us is the most loving act in all of history. He sent His Son to die on our behalf. Jesus, when He was on that Cross, took the penalty for our sin upon Himself. In repentance and faith, we can accept His free gift of eternal life, even though we don’t deserve it.
I haven’t stopped sinning since I became a Christian. I don’t try to hide them nearly as much, but I fear that people still think I am a good person. I’m not. I’m just a FORGIVEN person. There’s a huge difference.
In that moment I was saved, I was given the Holy Spirit to help guide me. While I still sin, He is there to help me not to sin. He is molding me into something better. He is molding me into someone who actually gets excited by the thought that God is watching. I know He is taking care of me. I know He has secured me for forever. And I know that I am still forgiven, even when I stumble.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Drunk on sex
“Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?”
-Proverbs 5:20
It’s interesting that this passage contrasts two feelings of intoxication. In the previous verse, we are urged to be intoxicated on the love of a spouse. In this one, to avoid the intoxication of extramarital sex. The first intoxication is seen as something really wonderful; the second something not so great.
What strikes me immediately is the source of the intoxication. With your spouse, that intoxication should be because of the fullness of sex, which includes love, the joining of two into one, the spiritual and physical, the caring and compassion. It is an intoxication from the full expression of what God created for our satisfaction. It is not just a roll in the hay, but something so deeply spiritual that it takes two people and makes them one.
The world urges us to do something else with sex. It wants us to remove it from the context that God intended and turn it into something cheap. It wants us to remove all the things that make sex special and turn it into something quite ordinary. We’ve become drunk on it – but not in that way of being intoxicated with God’s provision and love, but in the sort of way where we act like idiots, throw up, and don’t remember any of it in the morning.
So many of the sins we commit are committed because we have a small view of something. Our pride comes from a small view of the world – we think we’re actually worthy of something. When you begin to understand the power and majesty of the Father, it is hard to have pride anymore. Greed comes about when we have a small view of wealth. If we had an inkling of the power of the love of God, a love that last forever, money would begin to seem like a very small matter.
C. S. Lewis once used an analogy of a boy playing in the dirt. His father told him that they would go to the beach. The boy was not excited. He had never been to the beach, but he enjoyed his dirt pile very much. At last the father had to tell him, “Son, you must trust me. The beach is much, much better.”
So it is with God. We are so content with money, pride, casual sex, lust, etc., when He intends so much greater. Our problem is that our desires are too weak, not that they are too strong.
Ultimately, the greatest joy, the greatest provision, the greatest awe we can experience is in Christ, and in Him we have all of these things eternally. So great is His gift to us that it is not something we could earn or ever pay back. His is a love so great that He died for us, even while we were distracted with so many small matters. When we were willing to trade His love for a little sex, He still died on our behalf.
He does not tell us to work harder or do better to gain His forgiveness. Instead He bids us repent and have faith in Him. By Grace we are saved.
We have all betrayed Him in sexual sin. Even those who have not had sex outside of marriage have still betrayed Him with lust, which Jesus said was adultery of the heart. None of us deserve the life He offers. Yet He gives it. Don’t trade it away for something so small as sin.
-Proverbs 5:20
It’s interesting that this passage contrasts two feelings of intoxication. In the previous verse, we are urged to be intoxicated on the love of a spouse. In this one, to avoid the intoxication of extramarital sex. The first intoxication is seen as something really wonderful; the second something not so great.
What strikes me immediately is the source of the intoxication. With your spouse, that intoxication should be because of the fullness of sex, which includes love, the joining of two into one, the spiritual and physical, the caring and compassion. It is an intoxication from the full expression of what God created for our satisfaction. It is not just a roll in the hay, but something so deeply spiritual that it takes two people and makes them one.
The world urges us to do something else with sex. It wants us to remove it from the context that God intended and turn it into something cheap. It wants us to remove all the things that make sex special and turn it into something quite ordinary. We’ve become drunk on it – but not in that way of being intoxicated with God’s provision and love, but in the sort of way where we act like idiots, throw up, and don’t remember any of it in the morning.
So many of the sins we commit are committed because we have a small view of something. Our pride comes from a small view of the world – we think we’re actually worthy of something. When you begin to understand the power and majesty of the Father, it is hard to have pride anymore. Greed comes about when we have a small view of wealth. If we had an inkling of the power of the love of God, a love that last forever, money would begin to seem like a very small matter.
C. S. Lewis once used an analogy of a boy playing in the dirt. His father told him that they would go to the beach. The boy was not excited. He had never been to the beach, but he enjoyed his dirt pile very much. At last the father had to tell him, “Son, you must trust me. The beach is much, much better.”
So it is with God. We are so content with money, pride, casual sex, lust, etc., when He intends so much greater. Our problem is that our desires are too weak, not that they are too strong.
Ultimately, the greatest joy, the greatest provision, the greatest awe we can experience is in Christ, and in Him we have all of these things eternally. So great is His gift to us that it is not something we could earn or ever pay back. His is a love so great that He died for us, even while we were distracted with so many small matters. When we were willing to trade His love for a little sex, He still died on our behalf.
He does not tell us to work harder or do better to gain His forgiveness. Instead He bids us repent and have faith in Him. By Grace we are saved.
We have all betrayed Him in sexual sin. Even those who have not had sex outside of marriage have still betrayed Him with lust, which Jesus said was adultery of the heart. None of us deserve the life He offers. Yet He gives it. Don’t trade it away for something so small as sin.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Drunk on love
[The wife of your youth is] “a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”
-Proverbs 5:19
My wife’s alma mater is in a rather undeveloped area of Laredo. Basically, it’s the school and some wilderness around there. That will change in time, but for now it’s a wonderfully peaceful place. There are deer all over the campus, and if you drive around in the mornings or evenings, you will see them in the grass, eating or resting. One night we sat in the car, just watching one particular doe walk around. There is something magnificently beautiful about deer. They are amazingly graceful, strong, vibrant, and, frankly, cute.
Solomon picks up on these characteristics when talking about our wives. See, he’s already talked about sexuality as a fountain that should remain clean. Now he will speak of it with a metaphor of animals. Don’t go messing around with other women, he is saying, because something really wonderful is waiting for you at home.
This is sex the way God intended it. He is not a prude who forbids us from enjoying ourselves in that way. He created sex to be enjoyed. The trouble is not that people concentrate too much on sex – it’s that they think to lowly of it.
Sex within a Christian marriage is something beautiful, graceful, satisfying, intoxicating, pure, refreshing, and spiritual. It is the joining of two into one. God’s intention for sex is so much better than we ever consider.
We often reduce sex to just something satisfying, leaving off all of the things that make it truly wonderful. When it is only something to do to be satisfied, our view of sex becomes very cheap. It becomes very small.
And that’s the sin of it – we are taking something that God has given as a gift, to be experienced and enjoyed in a loving and spiritual way, and dragging it through the gutter. We are taking this thing He has given, something so big and wonderful that it can barely be explained, and making it small.
A lot of us have cheapened it in the past. Some of us are doing so right now. It’s not too late for you. This sin does not have to ruin everything. It’s interesting that Ephesians 5 describes a marriage as a symbol of Jesus’ love for the Church. Think about that, because one party in that marriage is pure and innocent – Jesus. The other party is unworthy, unclean, and defiled. That’s us – the Church.
It is Christ who cleans us. By His Blood He washes away our sins. He does not turn away His bride because of her sins, but cleans her, dresses her in fine clothes, purifies her, and marries her.
We have all sinned in the past, but in repentance and faith we can be forgiven and washed clean. In the same way, it is not too late to repent of sexual sins. Whether you are having sex before marriage, or committing adultery within a marriage, or looking at porn, or are a practicing homosexual, it doesn’t matter. Repent for the forgiveness of sins. Repent and be washed clean.
If you are married, go home and enjoy your spouse. Be intoxicated by her, and let her fill you with delight.
See? Who said reading the Bible wasn’t inspiring?
-Proverbs 5:19
My wife’s alma mater is in a rather undeveloped area of Laredo. Basically, it’s the school and some wilderness around there. That will change in time, but for now it’s a wonderfully peaceful place. There are deer all over the campus, and if you drive around in the mornings or evenings, you will see them in the grass, eating or resting. One night we sat in the car, just watching one particular doe walk around. There is something magnificently beautiful about deer. They are amazingly graceful, strong, vibrant, and, frankly, cute.
Solomon picks up on these characteristics when talking about our wives. See, he’s already talked about sexuality as a fountain that should remain clean. Now he will speak of it with a metaphor of animals. Don’t go messing around with other women, he is saying, because something really wonderful is waiting for you at home.
This is sex the way God intended it. He is not a prude who forbids us from enjoying ourselves in that way. He created sex to be enjoyed. The trouble is not that people concentrate too much on sex – it’s that they think to lowly of it.
Sex within a Christian marriage is something beautiful, graceful, satisfying, intoxicating, pure, refreshing, and spiritual. It is the joining of two into one. God’s intention for sex is so much better than we ever consider.
We often reduce sex to just something satisfying, leaving off all of the things that make it truly wonderful. When it is only something to do to be satisfied, our view of sex becomes very cheap. It becomes very small.
And that’s the sin of it – we are taking something that God has given as a gift, to be experienced and enjoyed in a loving and spiritual way, and dragging it through the gutter. We are taking this thing He has given, something so big and wonderful that it can barely be explained, and making it small.
A lot of us have cheapened it in the past. Some of us are doing so right now. It’s not too late for you. This sin does not have to ruin everything. It’s interesting that Ephesians 5 describes a marriage as a symbol of Jesus’ love for the Church. Think about that, because one party in that marriage is pure and innocent – Jesus. The other party is unworthy, unclean, and defiled. That’s us – the Church.
It is Christ who cleans us. By His Blood He washes away our sins. He does not turn away His bride because of her sins, but cleans her, dresses her in fine clothes, purifies her, and marries her.
We have all sinned in the past, but in repentance and faith we can be forgiven and washed clean. In the same way, it is not too late to repent of sexual sins. Whether you are having sex before marriage, or committing adultery within a marriage, or looking at porn, or are a practicing homosexual, it doesn’t matter. Repent for the forgiveness of sins. Repent and be washed clean.
If you are married, go home and enjoy your spouse. Be intoxicated by her, and let her fill you with delight.
See? Who said reading the Bible wasn’t inspiring?
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sweet, sweet lovin’!
“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,”
-Proverbs 5:18
There’s a long debate in the Church on if people should preach on sex. I know why this debate is around. It’s not because the Bible is vague on the subject. It’s not. It’s not that fundamentalists don’t think we should teach the Bible. They do. It’s because the subject is so darn awkward, both for the teacher and those listening. Sometimes it’s just easier to pretend like the subject isn’t there.
Well, the whole idea behind this blog is to walk through Proverbs verse-by-verse. And guess what? Chapter 5 is mostly about the adulterous woman, and now we come to a verse that basically says, “Go home and enjoy your wife.”
And it’s doesn’t add “only when necessary” or “about once a month.” Actually, it talks about your fountain being blessed, and if you look back at the previous verses, that fountain is your sex life.
It sort of seems as though Solomon is saying, “Go home and enjoy your wife. A lot.” It seems that way because that’s what he’s doing.
Here’s the truth of it. God invented sex. He designed it not just for procreation, but also for pleasure, comfort, and connection. It is supposed to be a matter for, to borrow the word from the verse, “rejoicing.”
In fact, the Bible commands more sex rather than less: “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).
That’s right. God is not a prude. He wants us to make love to our spouses. It’s only that He wants us to have sex in its proper place – marriage.
Does that surprise you? Why? Marriage has been given as a gift. It is a reflection, in fact, of the love that Christ has for His Church. It is not wrong to enjoy each other. It is not wrong to burn in passion for one another. It is not wrong to want to come together all the time. It’s not wrong, because we’re supposed to be talking about the same sort of love that took Jesus to the Cross for His Church. That sort of love that brought Him to His death for a people who did not deserve it.
Don’t misunderstand. The Church does not have a sexual relationship with Jesus. But marriage is reflecting that sort of love that is so strong that it conquers death itself. We should be passionate about each other!
Do you feel that way about your spouse? Are you unmarried, but have sinned sexually? Have you betrayed a spouse? You can’t fix it. You cannot make things right. But Jesus can. Repent and accept the forgiveness of sins by believing on Him who can save you. See, this love that He has for His Church is not based on what we can do for Him, but based on Him alone. He is faithful to forgive, even when we do not deserve it.
Prayer and repent. And then, if you want to, go sleep with your wife.
-Proverbs 5:18
There’s a long debate in the Church on if people should preach on sex. I know why this debate is around. It’s not because the Bible is vague on the subject. It’s not. It’s not that fundamentalists don’t think we should teach the Bible. They do. It’s because the subject is so darn awkward, both for the teacher and those listening. Sometimes it’s just easier to pretend like the subject isn’t there.
Well, the whole idea behind this blog is to walk through Proverbs verse-by-verse. And guess what? Chapter 5 is mostly about the adulterous woman, and now we come to a verse that basically says, “Go home and enjoy your wife.”
And it’s doesn’t add “only when necessary” or “about once a month.” Actually, it talks about your fountain being blessed, and if you look back at the previous verses, that fountain is your sex life.
It sort of seems as though Solomon is saying, “Go home and enjoy your wife. A lot.” It seems that way because that’s what he’s doing.
Here’s the truth of it. God invented sex. He designed it not just for procreation, but also for pleasure, comfort, and connection. It is supposed to be a matter for, to borrow the word from the verse, “rejoicing.”
In fact, the Bible commands more sex rather than less: “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).
That’s right. God is not a prude. He wants us to make love to our spouses. It’s only that He wants us to have sex in its proper place – marriage.
Does that surprise you? Why? Marriage has been given as a gift. It is a reflection, in fact, of the love that Christ has for His Church. It is not wrong to enjoy each other. It is not wrong to burn in passion for one another. It is not wrong to want to come together all the time. It’s not wrong, because we’re supposed to be talking about the same sort of love that took Jesus to the Cross for His Church. That sort of love that brought Him to His death for a people who did not deserve it.
Don’t misunderstand. The Church does not have a sexual relationship with Jesus. But marriage is reflecting that sort of love that is so strong that it conquers death itself. We should be passionate about each other!
Do you feel that way about your spouse? Are you unmarried, but have sinned sexually? Have you betrayed a spouse? You can’t fix it. You cannot make things right. But Jesus can. Repent and accept the forgiveness of sins by believing on Him who can save you. See, this love that He has for His Church is not based on what we can do for Him, but based on Him alone. He is faithful to forgive, even when we do not deserve it.
Prayer and repent. And then, if you want to, go sleep with your wife.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The beautiful first kiss
“Let them [your springs] be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.”
-Proverbs 5:17
I had some friends several years ago who had never even kissed someone romantically until the day of their wedding. It was in that church that each of them experienced that first kiss.
There’s something special about that. In an age where sexuality is quickly becoming a assumption rather than exception, where sex is more and more common in high schools and even middle schools, where homosexuality no longer is shocking, and where even parents are telling their children to move in with their boyfriends or girlfriends before getting married, there is something profound about viewing sexuality as a treasure or gift rather than a pastime.
It’s not that kissing is wrong. I’m not even saying it is wrong before marriage. There is no Scripture forbidding kissing before marriage, so long as it does not arouse lust.
And it’s not that sex is wrong. Within marriage, sex is not only not forbidden, but it is encouraged. These are wonderful things, gifts from eternal God. No, the issue is WHEN it is right, and WHEN it is wrong.
Solomon is giving us a metaphor between sex and a spring of water. The question he is asking is whether your water is contained properly and clean, or is it running through the dirty streets. Is your sex life good and God-honoring within a marriage, or is it muddied by the world, available to whomever wants it.
This isn’t an idle comparison. There are things in this world that are good, but when misused, they become sinful. Food is a gift from God, but when overused, it becomes an idol of its own. Money is a gift from God, but when misused, can cause all sorts of problems. So too is sex. Sex was designed by God as a joining of two people into one, to be a symbol of the love and devotion that Christ has for His Church.
To misuse the gift is to sin. It is a betrayal against God. And you can blow that off, saying that God is a prude, or that He doesn’t understand. Which is weird, because He’s the one who invented sex in the first place, so we might assume He knows the best ways to go about it.
In truth, when we do things against God’s commands, we do it because we have decided that we know better than Him. That, even though He has given us guidelines on how to behave, we have found something more pleasurable than God. We have chosen something created over the very Creator.
My friends had the right idea. Sex is a treasure and a gift. And I don’t care what reasons you come up with that you need to get laid now, the truth is that there is something truly wonderful and beautiful about two people who have never known anyone else before becoming one on their wedding night. More than that, there is something godly about it.
Even if some of us managed to hold out that long, don’t get too proud about it. Jesus tells us to even look upon another person with lust in our hearts is to commit adultery. The true beauty of a perfect marriage is that even our thoughts are wholly devoted to our spouse.
We don’t meet that standard. We have fallen a hundred times today. Even if you are a virgin, you still fall short in lust or pride. But here’s another really awesome thing about the relationship between Jesus and His Church, that relationship that is supposed to be mirrored in our marriages – we can be forgiven.
We deserve death for our rebellion against God, but Jesus, upon that Cross, took our place in death so that we might live. He paid a bride-price for His Church that cost Him His life. He bought us by His Blood. In repentance and faith we can be forgiven.
We have not been perfect, but we have a Savior who was. Cling to Him, and He will guide your steps.
-Proverbs 5:17
I had some friends several years ago who had never even kissed someone romantically until the day of their wedding. It was in that church that each of them experienced that first kiss.
There’s something special about that. In an age where sexuality is quickly becoming a assumption rather than exception, where sex is more and more common in high schools and even middle schools, where homosexuality no longer is shocking, and where even parents are telling their children to move in with their boyfriends or girlfriends before getting married, there is something profound about viewing sexuality as a treasure or gift rather than a pastime.
It’s not that kissing is wrong. I’m not even saying it is wrong before marriage. There is no Scripture forbidding kissing before marriage, so long as it does not arouse lust.
And it’s not that sex is wrong. Within marriage, sex is not only not forbidden, but it is encouraged. These are wonderful things, gifts from eternal God. No, the issue is WHEN it is right, and WHEN it is wrong.
Solomon is giving us a metaphor between sex and a spring of water. The question he is asking is whether your water is contained properly and clean, or is it running through the dirty streets. Is your sex life good and God-honoring within a marriage, or is it muddied by the world, available to whomever wants it.
This isn’t an idle comparison. There are things in this world that are good, but when misused, they become sinful. Food is a gift from God, but when overused, it becomes an idol of its own. Money is a gift from God, but when misused, can cause all sorts of problems. So too is sex. Sex was designed by God as a joining of two people into one, to be a symbol of the love and devotion that Christ has for His Church.
To misuse the gift is to sin. It is a betrayal against God. And you can blow that off, saying that God is a prude, or that He doesn’t understand. Which is weird, because He’s the one who invented sex in the first place, so we might assume He knows the best ways to go about it.
In truth, when we do things against God’s commands, we do it because we have decided that we know better than Him. That, even though He has given us guidelines on how to behave, we have found something more pleasurable than God. We have chosen something created over the very Creator.
My friends had the right idea. Sex is a treasure and a gift. And I don’t care what reasons you come up with that you need to get laid now, the truth is that there is something truly wonderful and beautiful about two people who have never known anyone else before becoming one on their wedding night. More than that, there is something godly about it.
Even if some of us managed to hold out that long, don’t get too proud about it. Jesus tells us to even look upon another person with lust in our hearts is to commit adultery. The true beauty of a perfect marriage is that even our thoughts are wholly devoted to our spouse.
We don’t meet that standard. We have fallen a hundred times today. Even if you are a virgin, you still fall short in lust or pride. But here’s another really awesome thing about the relationship between Jesus and His Church, that relationship that is supposed to be mirrored in our marriages – we can be forgiven.
We deserve death for our rebellion against God, but Jesus, upon that Cross, took our place in death so that we might live. He paid a bride-price for His Church that cost Him His life. He bought us by His Blood. In repentance and faith we can be forgiven.
We have not been perfect, but we have a Savior who was. Cling to Him, and He will guide your steps.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The fountain
“Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?”
-Proverbs 5:16
I’ve met a lot of people in my time that say that Christianity is stifling, that it’s oppressive. “The rules of the Bible just ruin our fun,” they might say. Others have told me that they will think about God when they are older, but now they just want to have fun.
And let’s be honest, this is one of the main reasons people avoid God. They see Him as sort of this cosmic principal just waiting to call you into His office to punish you for some minor infraction.
But that’s not really true. And this is exactly why I love this image so much. If you take a look at the surrounding verses here, you’ll see that Solomon is advising his sons to not stray from their wives, to not chase after sex outside that relationship. Sex is metaphorically seen in this section as water, and Solomon tells us to get water from our own well.
Now we’re going to see the other option, and he has in mind here a spring that flows from the ground. Think of a fountain. What happens if the water from that fountain just hits the dirty ground and flowed off whichever way gravity took it? It wouldn’t be very clean. You definitely wouldn’t want to drink any of it. But what if the waters were contained into a pool?
Sometimes it is better to be constrained. Sometimes it is better to have boundaries. Sometimes freedom isn’t all its cracked up to be. Sex is one of those areas. Sex was designed as a joining of two people, of love and sacrifice, under the blessing and care of our Lord. When we turn it into just something to do on Saturday night (with whomever is willing), we’ve lost that. The water from the spring is just muddying up the area. But in the confines of a godly marriage, it becomes something deeper and more satisfying.
Maybe we lose some of that image in the way we go about marriage. We go into a marriage expecting the other person to satisfy is in every way, but not really willing to change at all for the other person. It so often becomes a selfish act rather than a loving one. When the other person fails to satisfy, we go looking for that satisfaction elsewhere – the internet, a club, another woman. The borders of the fountain become cracked, and the water starts spilling out. It sounds like a good idea at first. After all, that little pool was so confining!
But a marriage is supposed to be a picture of Christ’s love for his Church. It is something we do not deserve, but is a mercy – a gift that is so wonderful, that it could only have come from God. Jesus so loved us that He came to earth to die for us, even while we were still in sin and rebelling against Him. Such giving love and devotion is that. It is He who purifies us in His Blood and then clothes us in His righteousness. He keeps us for eternity and never betrays us.
It is only through Him that we could ever hope to be like that. It’s not something we can force ourselves to do, because it is a divine love that comes from God. Repent and believe in His sacrifice, and by His Spirit He will begin to work on you.
Has your spring been spilling out into the streets? Repent and believe, and let Him build that fountain for you.
-Proverbs 5:16
I’ve met a lot of people in my time that say that Christianity is stifling, that it’s oppressive. “The rules of the Bible just ruin our fun,” they might say. Others have told me that they will think about God when they are older, but now they just want to have fun.
And let’s be honest, this is one of the main reasons people avoid God. They see Him as sort of this cosmic principal just waiting to call you into His office to punish you for some minor infraction.
But that’s not really true. And this is exactly why I love this image so much. If you take a look at the surrounding verses here, you’ll see that Solomon is advising his sons to not stray from their wives, to not chase after sex outside that relationship. Sex is metaphorically seen in this section as water, and Solomon tells us to get water from our own well.
Now we’re going to see the other option, and he has in mind here a spring that flows from the ground. Think of a fountain. What happens if the water from that fountain just hits the dirty ground and flowed off whichever way gravity took it? It wouldn’t be very clean. You definitely wouldn’t want to drink any of it. But what if the waters were contained into a pool?
Sometimes it is better to be constrained. Sometimes it is better to have boundaries. Sometimes freedom isn’t all its cracked up to be. Sex is one of those areas. Sex was designed as a joining of two people, of love and sacrifice, under the blessing and care of our Lord. When we turn it into just something to do on Saturday night (with whomever is willing), we’ve lost that. The water from the spring is just muddying up the area. But in the confines of a godly marriage, it becomes something deeper and more satisfying.
Maybe we lose some of that image in the way we go about marriage. We go into a marriage expecting the other person to satisfy is in every way, but not really willing to change at all for the other person. It so often becomes a selfish act rather than a loving one. When the other person fails to satisfy, we go looking for that satisfaction elsewhere – the internet, a club, another woman. The borders of the fountain become cracked, and the water starts spilling out. It sounds like a good idea at first. After all, that little pool was so confining!
But a marriage is supposed to be a picture of Christ’s love for his Church. It is something we do not deserve, but is a mercy – a gift that is so wonderful, that it could only have come from God. Jesus so loved us that He came to earth to die for us, even while we were still in sin and rebelling against Him. Such giving love and devotion is that. It is He who purifies us in His Blood and then clothes us in His righteousness. He keeps us for eternity and never betrays us.
It is only through Him that we could ever hope to be like that. It’s not something we can force ourselves to do, because it is a divine love that comes from God. Repent and believe in His sacrifice, and by His Spirit He will begin to work on you.
Has your spring been spilling out into the streets? Repent and believe, and let Him build that fountain for you.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Stay home, make love, read your Bible, repeat
“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.”
-Proverbs 5:15
Chapter 5 of Proverbs mainly focuses on the “forbidden woman” or “adulterous woman.” Solomon is going to turn away from her for a little while and to someone a little more close to home – your spouse.
This analogy of drinking water from your own well may be a little lost on our generation. We have filtered water, bottled water, and laws that regulate the quality of tap water. But still, there is something about the water you have at home. Hopefully it is water you can trust. You never know what you’re going to get when you drink the water somewhere else. When you go to Mexico, for instance, people will tell you to stay away from the water completely.
So this is something we can understand, but it had even more meaning then. A well was something you probably dug yourself, or one of your ancestors did. It was YOURS, and no one else’s. You put the work into it, forming it as you desired. By your sweat it was perfected, ready to offer clean water to quench your thirst.
The Bible speaks in much the same way about marriage:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
-Ephesians 5:25-30
It is something you put your heart into, something that becomes so much a part of you that to dissolve it would be almost like death. Not that there isn’t work. Not that there aren’t problems. But by grace these come to produce something truly wonderful.
A thirsty man may think that any water fountain is okay. But like that well at home, a wife has been given to satisfy those longings. Like the water produced by the well you built, the satisfaction you get comes from the marriage of your making.
God is not opposed to sex. We may look at this whole section of Proverbs and wonder about that. No, God invented sex, and He’s plainly telling us here how to have our thirsts sated, so to speak. That’s not why He tells us not to have sex outside of marriage. It’s that He’s going for something here that cannot be accomplished with the girl in the bar, or on the internet, or in the magazine. He’s going for something that more reflects the relationship between Christ and His Church.
The love Jesus has for His bride cannot be compared with anything we have encountered before. Though we were lost in our sin, He came from heaven, lived on earth, and died on our behalf. He bought us with His very Blood. He purifies us in His sacrifice and prepares us, sanctifies us, for eternity.
And He is true. He does not stray. He is faithful to us in all times. There’s something beautiful about His love for us. The love God desires in our marriages looks more like that. It goes beyond sex and into something far better.
-Proverbs 5:15
Chapter 5 of Proverbs mainly focuses on the “forbidden woman” or “adulterous woman.” Solomon is going to turn away from her for a little while and to someone a little more close to home – your spouse.
This analogy of drinking water from your own well may be a little lost on our generation. We have filtered water, bottled water, and laws that regulate the quality of tap water. But still, there is something about the water you have at home. Hopefully it is water you can trust. You never know what you’re going to get when you drink the water somewhere else. When you go to Mexico, for instance, people will tell you to stay away from the water completely.
So this is something we can understand, but it had even more meaning then. A well was something you probably dug yourself, or one of your ancestors did. It was YOURS, and no one else’s. You put the work into it, forming it as you desired. By your sweat it was perfected, ready to offer clean water to quench your thirst.
The Bible speaks in much the same way about marriage:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
-Ephesians 5:25-30
It is something you put your heart into, something that becomes so much a part of you that to dissolve it would be almost like death. Not that there isn’t work. Not that there aren’t problems. But by grace these come to produce something truly wonderful.
A thirsty man may think that any water fountain is okay. But like that well at home, a wife has been given to satisfy those longings. Like the water produced by the well you built, the satisfaction you get comes from the marriage of your making.
God is not opposed to sex. We may look at this whole section of Proverbs and wonder about that. No, God invented sex, and He’s plainly telling us here how to have our thirsts sated, so to speak. That’s not why He tells us not to have sex outside of marriage. It’s that He’s going for something here that cannot be accomplished with the girl in the bar, or on the internet, or in the magazine. He’s going for something that more reflects the relationship between Christ and His Church.
The love Jesus has for His bride cannot be compared with anything we have encountered before. Though we were lost in our sin, He came from heaven, lived on earth, and died on our behalf. He bought us with His very Blood. He purifies us in His sacrifice and prepares us, sanctifies us, for eternity.
And He is true. He does not stray. He is faithful to us in all times. There’s something beautiful about His love for us. The love God desires in our marriages looks more like that. It goes beyond sex and into something far better.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A good man is hard to find
[On your deathbed, you will say,] “I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
-Proverbs 5:14
Hopefully, this day will be a long way off still, but I can almost picture my funeral. I don’t know who will be there. You never know what friends you’ll keep and which ones you will gain over time. I don’t have children yet, but I imagine that I’ll have some children who will come. I’m hoping to draw a little crowd. I’m not greedy – it doesn’t have to be a lot.
The pastor will say something about how dedicated I was to the church. After all, by that time I will have been writing about Proverbs for decades. I was always there, ready to help out. He will talk about the great books on the faith that I have written (or will write at this point). He will talk about my devotion to spreading the Gospel and to my family. My daughter will be so distraught that she will be overcome with tears at this time. He will say that I was a GOOD MAN.
Two or three people will stand up then to speak. Each one will have personal stories to tell, many of them funny to lighten the mood. Then they will speak of how they will miss me, but that I am in a better place. I was a GOOD MAN, they will say.
And they will be LYING.
The scene in before the throne of God will be much more accurate. All my thoughts, words, and deeds, will be laid out before me, and there will be far more bad than good. How many times will my own lust be shown to me? How many times my hatred? How many times my greed? My ambition? My selfishness? How many lies? How many hateful words? How many moments of covetousness? How many times when I sought my own goals rather than God’s? How many times when I loved myself more than I loved others?
We have such low standards for a GOOD MAN. We think someone who gives a little money to charity and seems to love his wife is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who goes to church every week and seems to have his life together is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who occasionally seems giving is a GOOD MAN.
If that’s the standard you are relying on, let me fill you in to God’s standard of a GOOD MAN. He will judge your every thought to see if you loved Him with everything you have and that you loved other people as much as you loved yourself. How are you going to do against that standard?
A lot of us are going to be faced, at the end of our lives, with the understanding that we were not good in the least. We are going to be faced with shame and regret. I pray that you face that shame sooner rather than later.
Not that you can fix it. You can’t. You’ve already rejected God. You’ve already decided that you are more important than everyone else. But you can be forgiven.
We deserve death by our sins, but when Jesus died on the Cross, He paid the price that was meant for us. He died so that we may live. In repentance and faith we will find life when we deserved death.
It is a gift from God against the worst of sins, and also those little thoughts that no one knows about but you. It is a gift against murder and blasphemy, but also those things we usually ignore, like gossip and pride.
It is His gift of life, a gift that cannot be earned.
-Proverbs 5:14
Hopefully, this day will be a long way off still, but I can almost picture my funeral. I don’t know who will be there. You never know what friends you’ll keep and which ones you will gain over time. I don’t have children yet, but I imagine that I’ll have some children who will come. I’m hoping to draw a little crowd. I’m not greedy – it doesn’t have to be a lot.
The pastor will say something about how dedicated I was to the church. After all, by that time I will have been writing about Proverbs for decades. I was always there, ready to help out. He will talk about the great books on the faith that I have written (or will write at this point). He will talk about my devotion to spreading the Gospel and to my family. My daughter will be so distraught that she will be overcome with tears at this time. He will say that I was a GOOD MAN.
Two or three people will stand up then to speak. Each one will have personal stories to tell, many of them funny to lighten the mood. Then they will speak of how they will miss me, but that I am in a better place. I was a GOOD MAN, they will say.
And they will be LYING.
The scene in before the throne of God will be much more accurate. All my thoughts, words, and deeds, will be laid out before me, and there will be far more bad than good. How many times will my own lust be shown to me? How many times my hatred? How many times my greed? My ambition? My selfishness? How many lies? How many hateful words? How many moments of covetousness? How many times when I sought my own goals rather than God’s? How many times when I loved myself more than I loved others?
We have such low standards for a GOOD MAN. We think someone who gives a little money to charity and seems to love his wife is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who goes to church every week and seems to have his life together is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who occasionally seems giving is a GOOD MAN.
If that’s the standard you are relying on, let me fill you in to God’s standard of a GOOD MAN. He will judge your every thought to see if you loved Him with everything you have and that you loved other people as much as you loved yourself. How are you going to do against that standard?
A lot of us are going to be faced, at the end of our lives, with the understanding that we were not good in the least. We are going to be faced with shame and regret. I pray that you face that shame sooner rather than later.
Not that you can fix it. You can’t. You’ve already rejected God. You’ve already decided that you are more important than everyone else. But you can be forgiven.
We deserve death by our sins, but when Jesus died on the Cross, He paid the price that was meant for us. He died so that we may live. In repentance and faith we will find life when we deserved death.
It is a gift from God against the worst of sins, and also those little thoughts that no one knows about but you. It is a gift against murder and blasphemy, but also those things we usually ignore, like gossip and pride.
It is His gift of life, a gift that cannot be earned.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The common rebellion of us all
[On your deathbed, you will say,] “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.”
-Proverbs 5:13
It seems the curse of every generation to make the same mistakes as the previous ones. You see this in every area of life. Politically, we continue to try the same programs that failed ten years ago. Children generally turn out like their parents, even in those faults that they despise in their parents. Even churches do this. I have seen so many churches, in trying to be hip and new, fall into the same heresies that have been around since the first century.
And this is what it is – there is something in us that just wants to rebel. If our elders are telling us to do something one way, we will run in the opposite direction, not thinking that our elders may be telling us to go this way because they’ve already been the other way, and it was no good.
It’s a strange truth, but a truth nonetheless – in our rebellion we tend to conform to every generation that has come before. We don’t know this, of course. We just think we’re looking out for ourselves, having a little fun, seeking pleasure, and finding our own identity. But that’s just what our parents did, and their parents before them. We rebel, and in rebelling we prove that we are just like them.
Here’s the other truth of it – normally we sin for our own self promotion. We sin to have more fun, or to climb higher, or to be better. And in the end, we find out that we’ve had less fun, we’ve sunken lower, and we’ve been worse than we could have dreamed.
Our lives are driven by sin. We follow our greed, lusts, ambition, pride, and selfishness for almost every minute of the every day. We have not sought God, the very Creator who gave us life. We have not loved one another, but used one another for our own advancement and pleasure.
Some of us come to this realization before we die. Some of us discover it on our deathbeds. There are so many people, at the end of their lives, looking back in disgust and regret.
In our rebellion against God, we all end up in that place. Some of us get there before death. For some, it won’t be until the Day of Judgment, standing before the throne of God, when every sinful thought, word, and deed is revealed.
I don’t want to be there on that day, thinking, “I didn’t listen to the warnings. I didn’t listen when they told me to seek God and love first. I didn’t listen, and I fell into the same trap that everyone else did.”
We have all spent our lives in rebellion against God. But it’s not too late for it to be fixed. It can’t be fixed by you, but it can by Jesus. In love, He came from Heaven to die in our place. He paid the price for our rebellion. If we repent and believe, His righteousness will be credited to us, and our sin will be paid for by His Blood.
This is the wisdom passed down through the Word of God. Don’t ignore the voice of this particular teacher.
-Proverbs 5:13
It seems the curse of every generation to make the same mistakes as the previous ones. You see this in every area of life. Politically, we continue to try the same programs that failed ten years ago. Children generally turn out like their parents, even in those faults that they despise in their parents. Even churches do this. I have seen so many churches, in trying to be hip and new, fall into the same heresies that have been around since the first century.
And this is what it is – there is something in us that just wants to rebel. If our elders are telling us to do something one way, we will run in the opposite direction, not thinking that our elders may be telling us to go this way because they’ve already been the other way, and it was no good.
It’s a strange truth, but a truth nonetheless – in our rebellion we tend to conform to every generation that has come before. We don’t know this, of course. We just think we’re looking out for ourselves, having a little fun, seeking pleasure, and finding our own identity. But that’s just what our parents did, and their parents before them. We rebel, and in rebelling we prove that we are just like them.
Here’s the other truth of it – normally we sin for our own self promotion. We sin to have more fun, or to climb higher, or to be better. And in the end, we find out that we’ve had less fun, we’ve sunken lower, and we’ve been worse than we could have dreamed.
Our lives are driven by sin. We follow our greed, lusts, ambition, pride, and selfishness for almost every minute of the every day. We have not sought God, the very Creator who gave us life. We have not loved one another, but used one another for our own advancement and pleasure.
Some of us come to this realization before we die. Some of us discover it on our deathbeds. There are so many people, at the end of their lives, looking back in disgust and regret.
In our rebellion against God, we all end up in that place. Some of us get there before death. For some, it won’t be until the Day of Judgment, standing before the throne of God, when every sinful thought, word, and deed is revealed.
I don’t want to be there on that day, thinking, “I didn’t listen to the warnings. I didn’t listen when they told me to seek God and love first. I didn’t listen, and I fell into the same trap that everyone else did.”
We have all spent our lives in rebellion against God. But it’s not too late for it to be fixed. It can’t be fixed by you, but it can by Jesus. In love, He came from Heaven to die in our place. He paid the price for our rebellion. If we repent and believe, His righteousness will be credited to us, and our sin will be paid for by His Blood.
This is the wisdom passed down through the Word of God. Don’t ignore the voice of this particular teacher.
Friday, November 20, 2009
How do we react to criticism?
“and you say [on your deathbed], ‘How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!’”
-Proverbs 5:12
This is my fear for our generation.
This is my real fear, that we will find ourselves upon our deathbed, wondering why we were so proud as to not take correction.
Or worse still, that we will find ourselves before the Lord on the Day of Judgment, wondering why we didn’t listen to those who were trying to point us in the right direction.
We have this idea in modern America that I am the one who decides what is right for me, and that no one can say anything otherwise. We tell each other this all the time. We say, “Don’t judge me!” over the slightest criticism. We hang out with people who will defend us no matter what, even when we are wrong, as though it is a virtue to ignore the evil things we do.
We have so completely been sold on this “virtue” of individuality that we have forgotten what true virtue is. We have marches celebrating terrible sin. We legislate “rights” to do whatever we want, and then complain when someone frowns on our behavior.
I would agree that a lot of this frowning misses the point. A lot of it is just self-righteousness spewing out. But I tell you the truth – love will correct when needed. Love steps in when needed.
The parents who refuse to punish their children are not loving parents. No, love will punish a child when the child needs punishment. The friend who sits by and lets someone sleep with everyone he meets isn’t a good friend. Love will sometimes say, “Hey, this is destructive behavior.”
We don’t want love in this country. Not really. We want license. We want people to tell us that we are doing fantastic, that everything we try is perfectly fine.
It’s not.
And if we are lucky, when we reflect on our lives upon our deathbeds, we will realize how far astray we have gone.
We have spent our lives in pursuit of lust, greed, ambition, pride, hatred, and selfishness. We have put all our efforts into those things instead of love. And when love does come and try to correct us, we scold it and throw it aside. All it does is get in the way of our fun.
It is my prayer that we will realize how bad we have made things because of sin before we die. It is my prayer that we will realize, turn our eyes to Jesus, and repent of those evils we have done. We will believe in Him and His death upon the Cross, how He took the punishment for our sins there. We will believe that because of His finished work, we will be saved, not because of our own good works.
It is my prayer that this will happen. My fear is that we will go into death, still seeking license rather than love. If so, all we will find in death is justice. And that’s not something we really want.
-Proverbs 5:12
This is my fear for our generation.
This is my real fear, that we will find ourselves upon our deathbed, wondering why we were so proud as to not take correction.
Or worse still, that we will find ourselves before the Lord on the Day of Judgment, wondering why we didn’t listen to those who were trying to point us in the right direction.
We have this idea in modern America that I am the one who decides what is right for me, and that no one can say anything otherwise. We tell each other this all the time. We say, “Don’t judge me!” over the slightest criticism. We hang out with people who will defend us no matter what, even when we are wrong, as though it is a virtue to ignore the evil things we do.
We have so completely been sold on this “virtue” of individuality that we have forgotten what true virtue is. We have marches celebrating terrible sin. We legislate “rights” to do whatever we want, and then complain when someone frowns on our behavior.
I would agree that a lot of this frowning misses the point. A lot of it is just self-righteousness spewing out. But I tell you the truth – love will correct when needed. Love steps in when needed.
The parents who refuse to punish their children are not loving parents. No, love will punish a child when the child needs punishment. The friend who sits by and lets someone sleep with everyone he meets isn’t a good friend. Love will sometimes say, “Hey, this is destructive behavior.”
We don’t want love in this country. Not really. We want license. We want people to tell us that we are doing fantastic, that everything we try is perfectly fine.
It’s not.
And if we are lucky, when we reflect on our lives upon our deathbeds, we will realize how far astray we have gone.
We have spent our lives in pursuit of lust, greed, ambition, pride, hatred, and selfishness. We have put all our efforts into those things instead of love. And when love does come and try to correct us, we scold it and throw it aside. All it does is get in the way of our fun.
It is my prayer that we will realize how bad we have made things because of sin before we die. It is my prayer that we will realize, turn our eyes to Jesus, and repent of those evils we have done. We will believe in Him and His death upon the Cross, how He took the punishment for our sins there. We will believe that because of His finished work, we will be saved, not because of our own good works.
It is my prayer that this will happen. My fear is that we will go into death, still seeking license rather than love. If so, all we will find in death is justice. And that’s not something we really want.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Don’t wait for a deathbed confession
“and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,”
-Proverbs 5:11
You’re going to die. I can say that with almost 100% certainty. Now, I’ll allow for the possibility of Jesus’ return before that happens, which is why I’m not quite ready to say 100%, but I am almost certain of your eventual death.
You know it too. You may not want to think about it or acknowledge it, but you know. Maybe you’re a little closer than you would like. Maybe it’s so far off that it never crosses your mind.
Sometimes I think about it, but not too often. I’m not in great shape, so it crosses my mind that I may be facing an earlier than desired death, but I’m also in better shape than I’ve been since I was a teenager, so it seems like I may be pushing it out some.
Of course, the truth is for all of us that we could get run over tomorrow. We could go to sleep tonight and not wake up in the morning. Perhaps these things are unlikely, but they are not impossible.
Solomon is doing something interesting here. He is telling his sons to not go in to the forbidden woman, sometimes known as the adulterous woman. He has listed a couple of reasons for that – spiritual standing with God, your reputation amongst men, and possible determents to prosperity.
But here he begins a new reason, one that is all too true, and yet so rarely heeded. Don’t chase after sinful pleasure, because you’re going to die someday.
And this is the ultimate reason. Look, you could commit all the sins of the world and still prosper and still have a good reputation. You could get away with it, but then you’re going to die. And that may not be far off. It may be tonight.
We will all die, and we will face judgment. God will judge us according to our thoughts, words, and deeds. That’s right. It’s not just about doing the right thing, it’s about THINKING the right thing too. We will be held accountable for every sin.
And the wages of sin is death. Not just the physical death that we will all encounter, but an eternal death in hell.
Solomon is telling his sons to consider where they stand with God now in preparation for that day. Don’t put it off, thinking you can worry about it tomorrow. We may not have one.
One that day, it’s not going to be about how good we are. Let’s face it, we all at least thought an evil thought, which is enough to get us tossed into hell forever. Most of us have acted on those thoughts occasionally. It’s going to be able who we have with us.
In His death on the Cross, Jesus took upon Himself our sins. He paid the price that we owe. If we repent and believe in Him, He will be our advocate with the Father. If we reject Him, we will stand before the Father on our own.
It’s so easy to wait until tomorrow. You may end up on your deathbed, desperately trying to figure out where you went wrong. Worse still, maybe you won’t even consider it then.
-Proverbs 5:11
You’re going to die. I can say that with almost 100% certainty. Now, I’ll allow for the possibility of Jesus’ return before that happens, which is why I’m not quite ready to say 100%, but I am almost certain of your eventual death.
You know it too. You may not want to think about it or acknowledge it, but you know. Maybe you’re a little closer than you would like. Maybe it’s so far off that it never crosses your mind.
Sometimes I think about it, but not too often. I’m not in great shape, so it crosses my mind that I may be facing an earlier than desired death, but I’m also in better shape than I’ve been since I was a teenager, so it seems like I may be pushing it out some.
Of course, the truth is for all of us that we could get run over tomorrow. We could go to sleep tonight and not wake up in the morning. Perhaps these things are unlikely, but they are not impossible.
Solomon is doing something interesting here. He is telling his sons to not go in to the forbidden woman, sometimes known as the adulterous woman. He has listed a couple of reasons for that – spiritual standing with God, your reputation amongst men, and possible determents to prosperity.
But here he begins a new reason, one that is all too true, and yet so rarely heeded. Don’t chase after sinful pleasure, because you’re going to die someday.
And this is the ultimate reason. Look, you could commit all the sins of the world and still prosper and still have a good reputation. You could get away with it, but then you’re going to die. And that may not be far off. It may be tonight.
We will all die, and we will face judgment. God will judge us according to our thoughts, words, and deeds. That’s right. It’s not just about doing the right thing, it’s about THINKING the right thing too. We will be held accountable for every sin.
And the wages of sin is death. Not just the physical death that we will all encounter, but an eternal death in hell.
Solomon is telling his sons to consider where they stand with God now in preparation for that day. Don’t put it off, thinking you can worry about it tomorrow. We may not have one.
One that day, it’s not going to be about how good we are. Let’s face it, we all at least thought an evil thought, which is enough to get us tossed into hell forever. Most of us have acted on those thoughts occasionally. It’s going to be able who we have with us.
In His death on the Cross, Jesus took upon Himself our sins. He paid the price that we owe. If we repent and believe in Him, He will be our advocate with the Father. If we reject Him, we will stand before the Father on our own.
It’s so easy to wait until tomorrow. You may end up on your deathbed, desperately trying to figure out where you went wrong. Worse still, maybe you won’t even consider it then.
Monday, November 16, 2009
The money pit
[Avoid the forbidden woman] “lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner,”
-Proverbs 5:10
When I worked in the court system, I came across the case of a man who was arrested for violation of a protective order. He was divorced from his wife, and due to various circumstances (some his fault, and some beyond his control), a protective order was granted against him. He was no longer allowed to see his children. He was broke and could not pay child support, but he did find a little money to buy some cloths for his kids. He left them on the doorstep of his ex-wife’s house while no one was home and left.
And he was arrested for violating that order.
I don’t know the full story. Maybe something else happened to suggest that he would be a danger to the kids. I don’t even know what caused the divorce, but I spoke with him some, and I felt sorry for him. I believe that he was really just trying to do something nice for his kids, knowing that he probably wouldn’t be allowed to see them for years. What he told me was that he just wanted to remind them that he was thinking of them, and that he loved them.
So many of our problems in life can be traced back to one point in time, one decision. Usually, it’s our own doing as well. This verse speaks of the consequences of adultery. How much has been lost over that particular sin? How many families destroyed? Not many of them end up in such a terrible situation as the man I met at the courthouse, but how many are today trying to schedule weekends with their kids because of that one moment?
How many people are sending money to an ex every month because of adultery? How many are paying child support because of adultery?
It’s not just adultery that can ruin us either. Any sin has the power to do it. It doesn’t always happen (some sinners flourish), but sin has a way of bringing us to ruin. Pride will cause us to overextend our bank accounts. Selfishness will drive off those who love us. Sex outside of marriage has ruined many people’s lofty dreams when the reality of a pregnancy brings them down to earth. Lying can ruin the trust of your customers. Stealing can land you in jail, without much hope of getting a good job when you are released.
Solomon is telling his sons to stay moral for two reasons. In this section, he is reminding his sons that acting morally will keep you from these traps that will destroy your bank account, reputation, and health.
It doesn’t always happen like this, of course, but it does enough. I can tell you of many people who have been ruined over adultery. I can’t tell you about any who have been ruined by faithfulness.
The other reason Solomon gives to his sons for moral living in a spiritual one, mainly addressed in verse 5 of this chapter.
And this, to me, is the far more important one. After all, the Christian life could quite possibly lead you to prosperity and a healthy life. It could just as easily lead you to a martyr’s death in the Middle East. The Proverbs often give us truisms that are usually true, but not always. This is very important to remember when reading them – they are guides, but not always promises.
And yet, when we are in Christ, the end will always be the same, whether we are gunned down by Muslim extremists or die of old age surrounded by family – eternity with God.
It is not something we can earn of ourselves. God is holy and just, and we have fallen far short of his glory. Maybe it is with an adulterous woman. Maybe it is simple pride that is eating away at us. Whatever it is, we have been overcome with sin. But in the death of Jesus we can be forgiven. He took the punishment for us.
By all means, try to avoid sin. Try to live righteously. But when you fail, repent and believe in Him that you may live. Maybe it’s too late for you to avoid the forbidden woman. It’s not too late to deal with the next life.
-Proverbs 5:10
When I worked in the court system, I came across the case of a man who was arrested for violation of a protective order. He was divorced from his wife, and due to various circumstances (some his fault, and some beyond his control), a protective order was granted against him. He was no longer allowed to see his children. He was broke and could not pay child support, but he did find a little money to buy some cloths for his kids. He left them on the doorstep of his ex-wife’s house while no one was home and left.
And he was arrested for violating that order.
I don’t know the full story. Maybe something else happened to suggest that he would be a danger to the kids. I don’t even know what caused the divorce, but I spoke with him some, and I felt sorry for him. I believe that he was really just trying to do something nice for his kids, knowing that he probably wouldn’t be allowed to see them for years. What he told me was that he just wanted to remind them that he was thinking of them, and that he loved them.
So many of our problems in life can be traced back to one point in time, one decision. Usually, it’s our own doing as well. This verse speaks of the consequences of adultery. How much has been lost over that particular sin? How many families destroyed? Not many of them end up in such a terrible situation as the man I met at the courthouse, but how many are today trying to schedule weekends with their kids because of that one moment?
How many people are sending money to an ex every month because of adultery? How many are paying child support because of adultery?
It’s not just adultery that can ruin us either. Any sin has the power to do it. It doesn’t always happen (some sinners flourish), but sin has a way of bringing us to ruin. Pride will cause us to overextend our bank accounts. Selfishness will drive off those who love us. Sex outside of marriage has ruined many people’s lofty dreams when the reality of a pregnancy brings them down to earth. Lying can ruin the trust of your customers. Stealing can land you in jail, without much hope of getting a good job when you are released.
Solomon is telling his sons to stay moral for two reasons. In this section, he is reminding his sons that acting morally will keep you from these traps that will destroy your bank account, reputation, and health.
It doesn’t always happen like this, of course, but it does enough. I can tell you of many people who have been ruined over adultery. I can’t tell you about any who have been ruined by faithfulness.
The other reason Solomon gives to his sons for moral living in a spiritual one, mainly addressed in verse 5 of this chapter.
And this, to me, is the far more important one. After all, the Christian life could quite possibly lead you to prosperity and a healthy life. It could just as easily lead you to a martyr’s death in the Middle East. The Proverbs often give us truisms that are usually true, but not always. This is very important to remember when reading them – they are guides, but not always promises.
And yet, when we are in Christ, the end will always be the same, whether we are gunned down by Muslim extremists or die of old age surrounded by family – eternity with God.
It is not something we can earn of ourselves. God is holy and just, and we have fallen far short of his glory. Maybe it is with an adulterous woman. Maybe it is simple pride that is eating away at us. Whatever it is, we have been overcome with sin. But in the death of Jesus we can be forgiven. He took the punishment for us.
By all means, try to avoid sin. Try to live righteously. But when you fail, repent and believe in Him that you may live. Maybe it’s too late for you to avoid the forbidden woman. It’s not too late to deal with the next life.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The truth behind the death penalty
“[Avoid the forbidden woman,] lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,”
-Proverbs 5:9
A lot of people would describe the moral laws of the Bible to be rather restrictive. Adultery was a capital offense, as was being caught in premarital sex. We moderns would likely scoff at such laws as primitive and unenlightened.
We may likewise laugh at verses like this, that talk about losing honor because of sexual sin. Perhaps this is a part of that old system that does not really apply today.
Surely we would agree that this remains partially true. I mean, some people get nervous about sex, and do not want their bedroom activities to come to light. Maybe they would consider some honor lost, depending on what becomes public. If you are caught cheating on your wife, certainly you’re going to run into some trouble there. In very rare cases, there are diseases, unwanted pregnancy, or something of the like associated with sex. But then again, most of those diseases are curable, and our enlightened society can take care of an unwanted pregnancy too.
So our enlightened society may dismiss this verse as speaking to something that is gone now. Even some churches would say that, saying that these laws belong to an older time, but that we are in a dispensation of grace now.
But here’s the thing about God’s Law as revealed in the Word. Whether or not our nation recognizes these penalties, they reflect something of God’s eternal truth. Premarital sex is not even a crime anymore in America, but with God, it still is.
And God is careful to explain to us that the wages of sin is death. No sin can be forgiven without the spilling of blood. The severity of punishment in the Law is a reflection of God’s just and holy nature, and His reaction to our rebellion against His righteousness. We can try to dismiss our own sin away if we like, but when we engage in sexual sin when He tells us not to, then we are rebelling again a perfect and righteous God. This is a crime against His holiness, and it must be punished.
So this Law given in the Bible not as the practices of an unenlightened culture, but as the expectations of a perfect God. If we don’t see the sense in them, it is because WE are unenlightened, not Him.
And His Law goes right down to our hearts. Jesus tells us that if we look at another person with lust in our hearts, then we are guilty of adultery. So it’s not even about remaining a virgin until you’re married, but also keeping your imagination pure too.
We so quickly dismiss sin in this culture, but in truth, we are without excuse. We deserve death for what we have thought, said, and done. There is nothing we can do to earn eternal life. We have already lost it by our own actions.
But God is a God who saves. God is a God of love. He is just, yes. He is righteous and holy. But He also does not want to see us in death. To solve this, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth. He lived a perfect life, utterly free from sin, and died upon a Roman Cross. In that death He took upon Himself the sins He did not commit – our sins. He paid the price for them, sating God’s wrath against us.
We all deserve death. There is no way we can be good enough for heaven. But if we repent and believe in Him, we will find life.
-Proverbs 5:9
A lot of people would describe the moral laws of the Bible to be rather restrictive. Adultery was a capital offense, as was being caught in premarital sex. We moderns would likely scoff at such laws as primitive and unenlightened.
We may likewise laugh at verses like this, that talk about losing honor because of sexual sin. Perhaps this is a part of that old system that does not really apply today.
Surely we would agree that this remains partially true. I mean, some people get nervous about sex, and do not want their bedroom activities to come to light. Maybe they would consider some honor lost, depending on what becomes public. If you are caught cheating on your wife, certainly you’re going to run into some trouble there. In very rare cases, there are diseases, unwanted pregnancy, or something of the like associated with sex. But then again, most of those diseases are curable, and our enlightened society can take care of an unwanted pregnancy too.
So our enlightened society may dismiss this verse as speaking to something that is gone now. Even some churches would say that, saying that these laws belong to an older time, but that we are in a dispensation of grace now.
But here’s the thing about God’s Law as revealed in the Word. Whether or not our nation recognizes these penalties, they reflect something of God’s eternal truth. Premarital sex is not even a crime anymore in America, but with God, it still is.
And God is careful to explain to us that the wages of sin is death. No sin can be forgiven without the spilling of blood. The severity of punishment in the Law is a reflection of God’s just and holy nature, and His reaction to our rebellion against His righteousness. We can try to dismiss our own sin away if we like, but when we engage in sexual sin when He tells us not to, then we are rebelling again a perfect and righteous God. This is a crime against His holiness, and it must be punished.
So this Law given in the Bible not as the practices of an unenlightened culture, but as the expectations of a perfect God. If we don’t see the sense in them, it is because WE are unenlightened, not Him.
And His Law goes right down to our hearts. Jesus tells us that if we look at another person with lust in our hearts, then we are guilty of adultery. So it’s not even about remaining a virgin until you’re married, but also keeping your imagination pure too.
We so quickly dismiss sin in this culture, but in truth, we are without excuse. We deserve death for what we have thought, said, and done. There is nothing we can do to earn eternal life. We have already lost it by our own actions.
But God is a God who saves. God is a God of love. He is just, yes. He is righteous and holy. But He also does not want to see us in death. To solve this, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth. He lived a perfect life, utterly free from sin, and died upon a Roman Cross. In that death He took upon Himself the sins He did not commit – our sins. He paid the price for them, sating God’s wrath against us.
We all deserve death. There is no way we can be good enough for heaven. But if we repent and believe in Him, we will find life.
Monday, November 9, 2009
On sexual sin
“Keep your way far from her [the forbidden woman], and do not go near the door of her house,”
-Proverbs 5:8
Quite often, my wife and I will watch movies or television shows in the evenings. We were both real lovers of movies before marriage, and so, naturally, that part of our single lives have carried over into the marriage.
Not all of these movies are what you might call family friendly, but my wife always insists that we either skip sex scenes or at least turn away.
It’s not something I did when single. I used to be perhaps more tempted with sex than I am now (though I certainly have not conquered the sin of lust), and when God confronted me on this problem, I got rid of a lot of movies that I felt were just over the top with sexual content. But I didn’t get rid of every single movie that had a sex scene in it, and I really didn’t think about it much when watching. It’s just something that is in movies.
I am tremendously thankful to my wife for making me more uncomfortable with those scenes.
In our culture, we often ignore sexual sin, often to the point where we deny it is a sin. Sure, the extreme sexual sins will still be considered sins, but what about premarital sex? What about looking at a woman in lust? What about pornography?
Sex has become an idol to us in this culture. We worship it when we go out to bars to pick up women, when we scheme to try to make someone like us, when we turn on our computers to look at naked women. It has become a god to America, so much so that more than a million babies every year are sacrificed for the cause of sex without consequences.
We sometimes see God as a spoilsport who is trying to ruin our fun by His rules on sex. That’s not really what is going on. God does have rules regarding sex, but it is because there is something else going on with sex than perhaps we know.
When we hate someone, Jesus tells us, it is as though we have committed murder. There is something going on there on a spiritual level that we don’t realize at the time. We are separating ourselves in sin from the greatest good in the universe, which is God. We are choosing our anger over Him. It is like that with sexual sin. There is a spiritual connection made with your partner that was not meant to be shared with any woman at a bar. It was meant for one person, for life. And when we put our lusts before that one person and before God, we have made a spiritual decision to make an idol of our lust instead of worshipping God.
Sex is not a bad thing. God created it not just for procreation, but for enjoyment. But He made it to be used in love with your spouse, to share a spiritual oneness that is supposed to reflect the love that Christ has for His Church.
If I even look at a woman with lust in my heart, then I have put something in the place of that wondrous and God-given relationship and love.
I can’t even remember how many times I messed up in this way. In God’s mercy, He delivered me to a loving wife despite myself. This too is a reflection of Christ’s love for the Church. While we were yet sinners, He died on our behalf, paying the price for all of those sins, including the sexual ones. He purifies us in that Blood and places His righteousness upon us. In repentance and belief in Him, we can be cleansed.
If left to myself, I never could have made up for the sins of my past. But in His love, like the love of a husband to a wife, He has forgiven me.
-Proverbs 5:8
Quite often, my wife and I will watch movies or television shows in the evenings. We were both real lovers of movies before marriage, and so, naturally, that part of our single lives have carried over into the marriage.
Not all of these movies are what you might call family friendly, but my wife always insists that we either skip sex scenes or at least turn away.
It’s not something I did when single. I used to be perhaps more tempted with sex than I am now (though I certainly have not conquered the sin of lust), and when God confronted me on this problem, I got rid of a lot of movies that I felt were just over the top with sexual content. But I didn’t get rid of every single movie that had a sex scene in it, and I really didn’t think about it much when watching. It’s just something that is in movies.
I am tremendously thankful to my wife for making me more uncomfortable with those scenes.
In our culture, we often ignore sexual sin, often to the point where we deny it is a sin. Sure, the extreme sexual sins will still be considered sins, but what about premarital sex? What about looking at a woman in lust? What about pornography?
Sex has become an idol to us in this culture. We worship it when we go out to bars to pick up women, when we scheme to try to make someone like us, when we turn on our computers to look at naked women. It has become a god to America, so much so that more than a million babies every year are sacrificed for the cause of sex without consequences.
We sometimes see God as a spoilsport who is trying to ruin our fun by His rules on sex. That’s not really what is going on. God does have rules regarding sex, but it is because there is something else going on with sex than perhaps we know.
When we hate someone, Jesus tells us, it is as though we have committed murder. There is something going on there on a spiritual level that we don’t realize at the time. We are separating ourselves in sin from the greatest good in the universe, which is God. We are choosing our anger over Him. It is like that with sexual sin. There is a spiritual connection made with your partner that was not meant to be shared with any woman at a bar. It was meant for one person, for life. And when we put our lusts before that one person and before God, we have made a spiritual decision to make an idol of our lust instead of worshipping God.
Sex is not a bad thing. God created it not just for procreation, but for enjoyment. But He made it to be used in love with your spouse, to share a spiritual oneness that is supposed to reflect the love that Christ has for His Church.
If I even look at a woman with lust in my heart, then I have put something in the place of that wondrous and God-given relationship and love.
I can’t even remember how many times I messed up in this way. In God’s mercy, He delivered me to a loving wife despite myself. This too is a reflection of Christ’s love for the Church. While we were yet sinners, He died on our behalf, paying the price for all of those sins, including the sexual ones. He purifies us in that Blood and places His righteousness upon us. In repentance and belief in Him, we can be cleansed.
If left to myself, I never could have made up for the sins of my past. But in His love, like the love of a husband to a wife, He has forgiven me.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Where is your Bible, dad?
“And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.”
-Proverbs 5:7
We have seen quite a bit of direct address in the Proverbs. This sort of surprised me when I first really read the book. We sort of think of the Proverbs as simply a collection of sayings, mostly by Solomon, almost like if you got a lot of fortunes out of fortune cookies and taped them all on a big piece of paper. When you needed advice for something, you just search the paper for the right subject and read it.
A lot of our commentaries and sermons unwittingly promote this view of the book. Instead of going straight through the book, they will recollect the verses by subject and preach/write on each subject, taking various verses from throughout the book.
I don’t think this is a bad way of doing it, honestly. I’m trying to tackle it verse-by-verse, but I’ve been at this over a year, and I’m barely on chapter 5. At this rate I’m not going to finish for at least another five years. If I were trying to make this into a sermon series that would end in some reasonable amount of time, I don’t know that I wouldn’t try the exact same approach.
But in that, we sometimes lose what this book is about. It’s about a father teaching his kids. Solomon is pleading with his kids to seek the Lord, to follow The Lord, and to continually dwell upon Him.
Solomon urges his son to treasure these words and to keep them in his heart. It is an important request for our day, for more often than not, these words are not remembered, not kept, and not even sought.
But perhaps sadder still, these words are not even taught.
We give our kids all sorts of advice. We talk to them about how they should act, what sort of education they should pursue, if they should be dating yet, the sorts of jobs they should seek, and what they should eat. How much effort do we spend in teaching them about God?
Studies are telling us that most children leave the church once they go off to college. That’s very sad, but if they grew up in a home where Jesus was only important on Sunday morning (except on Super Bowl Sunday, when He wasn’t important at all), where making money takes priority over worship, where prayer is something done only before a meal (and often forgotten even then), is there any wonder the kids don’t think this is important?
You’ve told your kids that they shouldn’t use drugs. Have you told them why sin is worse still?
It is clear what our Heavenly Father thinks is important. He has given us some advice on life and the problems we will face here, but the clear bulk of His teaching has been in regard to our standing with Him, how sin has brought His wrath against us, and how He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on our behalf. Jesus didn’t come to tell us how to get a better job or how to pitch a curveball. He came to die upon the Cross, taking our sins upon Himself so that we can have eternal life.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Why is it then that earthly fathers are so easily distracted with their kids’ education, jobs, accomplishments, and relationships?
-Proverbs 5:7
We have seen quite a bit of direct address in the Proverbs. This sort of surprised me when I first really read the book. We sort of think of the Proverbs as simply a collection of sayings, mostly by Solomon, almost like if you got a lot of fortunes out of fortune cookies and taped them all on a big piece of paper. When you needed advice for something, you just search the paper for the right subject and read it.
A lot of our commentaries and sermons unwittingly promote this view of the book. Instead of going straight through the book, they will recollect the verses by subject and preach/write on each subject, taking various verses from throughout the book.
I don’t think this is a bad way of doing it, honestly. I’m trying to tackle it verse-by-verse, but I’ve been at this over a year, and I’m barely on chapter 5. At this rate I’m not going to finish for at least another five years. If I were trying to make this into a sermon series that would end in some reasonable amount of time, I don’t know that I wouldn’t try the exact same approach.
But in that, we sometimes lose what this book is about. It’s about a father teaching his kids. Solomon is pleading with his kids to seek the Lord, to follow The Lord, and to continually dwell upon Him.
Solomon urges his son to treasure these words and to keep them in his heart. It is an important request for our day, for more often than not, these words are not remembered, not kept, and not even sought.
But perhaps sadder still, these words are not even taught.
We give our kids all sorts of advice. We talk to them about how they should act, what sort of education they should pursue, if they should be dating yet, the sorts of jobs they should seek, and what they should eat. How much effort do we spend in teaching them about God?
Studies are telling us that most children leave the church once they go off to college. That’s very sad, but if they grew up in a home where Jesus was only important on Sunday morning (except on Super Bowl Sunday, when He wasn’t important at all), where making money takes priority over worship, where prayer is something done only before a meal (and often forgotten even then), is there any wonder the kids don’t think this is important?
You’ve told your kids that they shouldn’t use drugs. Have you told them why sin is worse still?
It is clear what our Heavenly Father thinks is important. He has given us some advice on life and the problems we will face here, but the clear bulk of His teaching has been in regard to our standing with Him, how sin has brought His wrath against us, and how He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on our behalf. Jesus didn’t come to tell us how to get a better job or how to pitch a curveball. He came to die upon the Cross, taking our sins upon Himself so that we can have eternal life.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Why is it then that earthly fathers are so easily distracted with their kids’ education, jobs, accomplishments, and relationships?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Planning for tomorrow
“she [the forbidden woman] does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.”
-Proverbs 5:6
When I was not a Christian, my outlook on life really didn’t go much beyond the next weekend. I wasn’t what the world would call a bad person. Far from it. Most people considered me pretty good. But I wasn’t really thinking about how my choices would affect next week, or next year, or especially eternity.
Even the most careful planners miss that last one. They will concern themselves with retirement, with preventative health, with college funds for their children. They may even purchase a funeral plot so their families won’t have to. But when you talk about what happens after you die, even those people won’t give it much thought.
Have you thought about how your choices will affect eternity? Will the mistakes you make today be brought up on the day of judgment? Will there even BE a day of judgment? What standards will be used to judge us?
These are questions that should be foremost on everyone’s mind, because, frankly, our life is pretty short, and eternity is much, much longer.
But so often we don’t even think about next week, much less the next life. The adulterous woman in these verses is such an effective analogy for sin for just that reason. Like that relationship that lasts a moment but destroys your family forever, sin can destroy your eternity. We don’t think about that at time, do we? We do not ponder the paths of life and steer away from evil.
The truth is that there will be a judgment day. The truth is that God will judge us by our words, thoughts, and deeds. He will judge every moment of greed, of lust, of hatred, or selfishness, and of pride. It will all be laid before Him. We’re not going to be good enough to make it. We have all followed that forbidden woman of sin inside too many times, even if it was just in our minds. We will not be judged righteous before a just God.
There is only one way for us to be judged righteous, and that is through repentance and belief in Jesus. God came to earth in human form, lived a perfect life, and died upon a Cross. In that death He took upon Himself our sins and paid the price for them. In exchange, He will impute His righteousness to us, and we will be judged by His actions, not our own.
This path of life is worth the pondering. Far better to walk it. We have entertained sin quite often. We have been to that corner and spoken with her much. Yet by the love of God, we have a way to return to the path of life. We can walk it because He walked it first, and He will come and get you when you step off in weakness.
-Proverbs 5:6
When I was not a Christian, my outlook on life really didn’t go much beyond the next weekend. I wasn’t what the world would call a bad person. Far from it. Most people considered me pretty good. But I wasn’t really thinking about how my choices would affect next week, or next year, or especially eternity.
Even the most careful planners miss that last one. They will concern themselves with retirement, with preventative health, with college funds for their children. They may even purchase a funeral plot so their families won’t have to. But when you talk about what happens after you die, even those people won’t give it much thought.
Have you thought about how your choices will affect eternity? Will the mistakes you make today be brought up on the day of judgment? Will there even BE a day of judgment? What standards will be used to judge us?
These are questions that should be foremost on everyone’s mind, because, frankly, our life is pretty short, and eternity is much, much longer.
But so often we don’t even think about next week, much less the next life. The adulterous woman in these verses is such an effective analogy for sin for just that reason. Like that relationship that lasts a moment but destroys your family forever, sin can destroy your eternity. We don’t think about that at time, do we? We do not ponder the paths of life and steer away from evil.
The truth is that there will be a judgment day. The truth is that God will judge us by our words, thoughts, and deeds. He will judge every moment of greed, of lust, of hatred, or selfishness, and of pride. It will all be laid before Him. We’re not going to be good enough to make it. We have all followed that forbidden woman of sin inside too many times, even if it was just in our minds. We will not be judged righteous before a just God.
There is only one way for us to be judged righteous, and that is through repentance and belief in Jesus. God came to earth in human form, lived a perfect life, and died upon a Cross. In that death He took upon Himself our sins and paid the price for them. In exchange, He will impute His righteousness to us, and we will be judged by His actions, not our own.
This path of life is worth the pondering. Far better to walk it. We have entertained sin quite often. We have been to that corner and spoken with her much. Yet by the love of God, we have a way to return to the path of life. We can walk it because He walked it first, and He will come and get you when you step off in weakness.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
What’s the big deal?
“Her [the forbidden woman’s] feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;”
-Proverbs 5:5
“It’s not a big deal.”
How many times have I heard that in regard to someone’s sin? How many times have I said it? Honestly, I am as guilty as anyone here. And I still do it! I treat someone badly, and I blow it off. Everyone does it. I engage in a little gossip at work. So what?
My issues may be different than someone else’s, but the reaction seems to be the same. I have some friends who are cohabitating while not married. To me this is a serious thing. To them, not so much. I can’t really blame them. I’ve done the same thing today in another issue.
Solomon uses the metaphor of the adulterous woman to represent sin. We’ve heard this analogy before – throughout the Old Testament, God has compared the unfaithfulness of Israel with a harlot who has traded the pure love of a marriage for a little money. In this, the adulterous woman stands on the corner, trying to lure us from family, from purity, from uprightness, and into death and Hell.
The analogy hits close to home. My life has been affected quite a bit because of adultery. Considering the statistics on how many people are having affairs, I’m willing to bet you’ve been affected by it too. This is a powerful analogy.
But is it an appropriate one? Can the lure of such simple sins such as gossip really be compared to a man who abandons his family for a little illicit fun?
In a word – yes. And it’s not simply because of gossip. It’s what the gossip comes from. We are, at heart, greedy, lustful, hate-filled, proud people. Society keeps these instincts in check most of the time. We don’t act on a portion of the evil desires that flow through us.
God has created us to worship Him, and yet we have abandoned Him to seek after created things – money, sex, power, and possessions. We have betrayed Him for, yes, a little juicy gossip at times. We are always seeking to fulfill our own desires, not to follow Him.
Like a wife who sells herself for a little money, we have walked away from God to chase after the nearest shiny object.
But God came to earth in the form of the man Jesus to buy us back. Upon the Cross He paid for our sins – dying in our place, even though our chasing after sin has earned for us death. Then He rose again to insure that we would rise also. If we repent and believe in Him, He tells us that He will ransom us from the death that we have made for ourselves.
Sin is a big deal. Solomon wants us to think of it like that forbidden woman. He wants us to recognize the betrayal involved in every sin.
He also wants us to see the love of a God who would go to such lengths to get us back.
-Proverbs 5:5
“It’s not a big deal.”
How many times have I heard that in regard to someone’s sin? How many times have I said it? Honestly, I am as guilty as anyone here. And I still do it! I treat someone badly, and I blow it off. Everyone does it. I engage in a little gossip at work. So what?
My issues may be different than someone else’s, but the reaction seems to be the same. I have some friends who are cohabitating while not married. To me this is a serious thing. To them, not so much. I can’t really blame them. I’ve done the same thing today in another issue.
Solomon uses the metaphor of the adulterous woman to represent sin. We’ve heard this analogy before – throughout the Old Testament, God has compared the unfaithfulness of Israel with a harlot who has traded the pure love of a marriage for a little money. In this, the adulterous woman stands on the corner, trying to lure us from family, from purity, from uprightness, and into death and Hell.
The analogy hits close to home. My life has been affected quite a bit because of adultery. Considering the statistics on how many people are having affairs, I’m willing to bet you’ve been affected by it too. This is a powerful analogy.
But is it an appropriate one? Can the lure of such simple sins such as gossip really be compared to a man who abandons his family for a little illicit fun?
In a word – yes. And it’s not simply because of gossip. It’s what the gossip comes from. We are, at heart, greedy, lustful, hate-filled, proud people. Society keeps these instincts in check most of the time. We don’t act on a portion of the evil desires that flow through us.
God has created us to worship Him, and yet we have abandoned Him to seek after created things – money, sex, power, and possessions. We have betrayed Him for, yes, a little juicy gossip at times. We are always seeking to fulfill our own desires, not to follow Him.
Like a wife who sells herself for a little money, we have walked away from God to chase after the nearest shiny object.
But God came to earth in the form of the man Jesus to buy us back. Upon the Cross He paid for our sins – dying in our place, even though our chasing after sin has earned for us death. Then He rose again to insure that we would rise also. If we repent and believe in Him, He tells us that He will ransom us from the death that we have made for ourselves.
Sin is a big deal. Solomon wants us to think of it like that forbidden woman. He wants us to recognize the betrayal involved in every sin.
He also wants us to see the love of a God who would go to such lengths to get us back.
Friday, October 30, 2009
The bitter aftertaste of sin
“but in the end she [the forbidden woman] is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.”
-Proverbs 5:4
There are a thousand temptations that greet me every day. Most don’t affect me that much. I may go by a billboard that tries to tempt me to buy some sort of food, but I’m not really hungry, so I pass it by. There is always a temptation at work to talk bad about others. Most of the time, I really just don’t want to.
Some temptations are a little tougher. By about 9:00 at night, the temptation to eat more will hit me. I don’t always succeed in that one.
In the long run, eating a late night snack isn’t going to hurt me that much. But when my wife isn’t treating me with respect, the temptation comes to yell at her to try to fix the situation. Of course, this wouldn’t be any sort of fix at all, and would end up costing me a lot more than I could possible gain by acting in such a way.
The most effective temptations make so much sense to us in that moment. When my wife gets mad at me, it makes sense to me that I need to defend myself and push the blame back on her.
Sexual temptation makes sense to us. We live in a society, in fact, that promotes it. Even adultery isn’t always condemned anymore. There are a hundred excuses for cheating on our spouse that are perfectly accepted by this world – “He doesn’t pay attention to me,” “She doesn’t meet my needs,” “Better to do this than to divorce!”
Christians are often thought of as prudes because we promote a more old-fashioned approach to sex. Well, it’s easy to dismiss the truth of the Scripture as “old-fashioned” when you’re faced with a temptation that seems justified. At least at the time.
Sometimes it makes sense to me too. And I have to heed Solomon’s warning here, because sex outside of marriage may make sense in the heart, but “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
God is not a prude who is trying to ruin our fun. He’s the one who invented sex, after all, and He intends for us to enjoy it. But sex outside of marriage is a perversion of what He has created.
The double-edged sword here is not just disease, pregnancy, broken hearts, betrayal, etc. It’s something different. It’s about idolatry.
When we seek our own pleasure above worship of God, we have made an idol out of our pleasure. What we must understand is that an idol cannot ultimately give us anything, whether the idol is in the form of a golden calf, or just the darkness of our own hearts. Yes, bowing before it can produce a moment of pleasure, but the body is made for something much greater. It is His, and it is made for forever.
It is so easy to limit our vision to this moment and this place, to that wicked heart that is telling you to do something. If you narrow your view that much, fornication and adultery makes a lot of sense. If you understand the truth of this life, which is but a foretaste of eternity, things may seem a bit different.
It is only by Christ that we can see that. Because our hearts are wicked, only God Himself could lift our eyes enough to understand that much. By the Blood of Christ we can be forgiven of those mistakes of the past. By His Spirit we will be freed from slavery to sin. By His holy work in us, we will begin to be conformed to His image. It is not something you can accomplish yourself. It is by His Grace alone. Look to Him in faith, and He will show you what you have lacked so long.
-Proverbs 5:4
There are a thousand temptations that greet me every day. Most don’t affect me that much. I may go by a billboard that tries to tempt me to buy some sort of food, but I’m not really hungry, so I pass it by. There is always a temptation at work to talk bad about others. Most of the time, I really just don’t want to.
Some temptations are a little tougher. By about 9:00 at night, the temptation to eat more will hit me. I don’t always succeed in that one.
In the long run, eating a late night snack isn’t going to hurt me that much. But when my wife isn’t treating me with respect, the temptation comes to yell at her to try to fix the situation. Of course, this wouldn’t be any sort of fix at all, and would end up costing me a lot more than I could possible gain by acting in such a way.
The most effective temptations make so much sense to us in that moment. When my wife gets mad at me, it makes sense to me that I need to defend myself and push the blame back on her.
Sexual temptation makes sense to us. We live in a society, in fact, that promotes it. Even adultery isn’t always condemned anymore. There are a hundred excuses for cheating on our spouse that are perfectly accepted by this world – “He doesn’t pay attention to me,” “She doesn’t meet my needs,” “Better to do this than to divorce!”
Christians are often thought of as prudes because we promote a more old-fashioned approach to sex. Well, it’s easy to dismiss the truth of the Scripture as “old-fashioned” when you’re faced with a temptation that seems justified. At least at the time.
Sometimes it makes sense to me too. And I have to heed Solomon’s warning here, because sex outside of marriage may make sense in the heart, but “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
God is not a prude who is trying to ruin our fun. He’s the one who invented sex, after all, and He intends for us to enjoy it. But sex outside of marriage is a perversion of what He has created.
The double-edged sword here is not just disease, pregnancy, broken hearts, betrayal, etc. It’s something different. It’s about idolatry.
When we seek our own pleasure above worship of God, we have made an idol out of our pleasure. What we must understand is that an idol cannot ultimately give us anything, whether the idol is in the form of a golden calf, or just the darkness of our own hearts. Yes, bowing before it can produce a moment of pleasure, but the body is made for something much greater. It is His, and it is made for forever.
It is so easy to limit our vision to this moment and this place, to that wicked heart that is telling you to do something. If you narrow your view that much, fornication and adultery makes a lot of sense. If you understand the truth of this life, which is but a foretaste of eternity, things may seem a bit different.
It is only by Christ that we can see that. Because our hearts are wicked, only God Himself could lift our eyes enough to understand that much. By the Blood of Christ we can be forgiven of those mistakes of the past. By His Spirit we will be freed from slavery to sin. By His holy work in us, we will begin to be conformed to His image. It is not something you can accomplish yourself. It is by His Grace alone. Look to Him in faith, and He will show you what you have lacked so long.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Memorizing the defensive plays
“For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,”
-Proverbs 5:3
I am terrible at memorizing verses. (To which you may reply, “Paul, what in the world does this have to do with the adulterous woman of Proverbs 5? I mean, this is the verse that begins that section, and here you are talking about memory verses.” Stick with me a little on this, and hopefully it’ll become clear.)
So back to the original point – I am terrible at memorizing verses. I have a few memorized, probably more because I read and use them a lot, not because I sat down and tried to memorize them.
Memorizing wasn’t really a priority for me for a very long time until I noticed something – I found that those few verses I did have memorized kept coming up in my daily life.
When I would worry about some situation, my mind would race to Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It would remind me that God was in control.
When I would get bogged down with legalism over a certain passage, I would sometimes think of John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” It would remind me that the Bible is not about my own righteousness, but about Jesus.
“That’s great Paul,” you may be saying, “but have you forgotten about the adulterous woman here? That is, after all, what this passage is about.”
This verse does begin a longer passage about avoiding the adulterous woman, which Solomon uses as the personification of sexual sin. But I am talking about the Bible in general a little here because of that little “for” that starts this verse. That “for” tells us to look at what came before it, and there we find Solomon’s admonition for us to pay attention to the teaching here, listen carefully, and keep it always in mind.
This verse tells us why – because sin is very enticing.
See, when we know the teachings of God, the Spirit will bring them to mind when they are needed. When you are confronted with sexual temptation, for example, passages like this will come to mind, or 1 Corinthians 6:20: “for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
I can tell you from experience, it is very difficult to even think about sinning when you have your nose in the Bible, singing songs of praise to the Father, and praying for His guidance. We don’t always do this, of course. There are times when the call of sin is dripping with honey, and we succumb. There are times when we fall hard.
Religious people, when this happens, will either try to cover it up or become despondent in their guilt. They will beat themselves up or pretend it never happened. A far better response comes from knowing the Bible a little better, because 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
The understanding of our Lord is going to provide guidance on this narrow road, resistance in the face of temptation, and forgiveness in the midst of failure. It is the last aspect of the Word that excites me most, because I have failed to live up to God’s Holy standard in so many ways. I have lied, hated, lusted, boasted, been arrogant, and committed countless other sins. But by the Blood of Christ I am cleaned again and again. So instead of beating myself up or trying to cover up my sin, as though Jesus doesn’t know about it, I can praise Him and thank Him for paying the price for my failures.
-Proverbs 5:3
I am terrible at memorizing verses. (To which you may reply, “Paul, what in the world does this have to do with the adulterous woman of Proverbs 5? I mean, this is the verse that begins that section, and here you are talking about memory verses.” Stick with me a little on this, and hopefully it’ll become clear.)
So back to the original point – I am terrible at memorizing verses. I have a few memorized, probably more because I read and use them a lot, not because I sat down and tried to memorize them.
Memorizing wasn’t really a priority for me for a very long time until I noticed something – I found that those few verses I did have memorized kept coming up in my daily life.
When I would worry about some situation, my mind would race to Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It would remind me that God was in control.
When I would get bogged down with legalism over a certain passage, I would sometimes think of John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” It would remind me that the Bible is not about my own righteousness, but about Jesus.
“That’s great Paul,” you may be saying, “but have you forgotten about the adulterous woman here? That is, after all, what this passage is about.”
This verse does begin a longer passage about avoiding the adulterous woman, which Solomon uses as the personification of sexual sin. But I am talking about the Bible in general a little here because of that little “for” that starts this verse. That “for” tells us to look at what came before it, and there we find Solomon’s admonition for us to pay attention to the teaching here, listen carefully, and keep it always in mind.
This verse tells us why – because sin is very enticing.
See, when we know the teachings of God, the Spirit will bring them to mind when they are needed. When you are confronted with sexual temptation, for example, passages like this will come to mind, or 1 Corinthians 6:20: “for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
I can tell you from experience, it is very difficult to even think about sinning when you have your nose in the Bible, singing songs of praise to the Father, and praying for His guidance. We don’t always do this, of course. There are times when the call of sin is dripping with honey, and we succumb. There are times when we fall hard.
Religious people, when this happens, will either try to cover it up or become despondent in their guilt. They will beat themselves up or pretend it never happened. A far better response comes from knowing the Bible a little better, because 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
The understanding of our Lord is going to provide guidance on this narrow road, resistance in the face of temptation, and forgiveness in the midst of failure. It is the last aspect of the Word that excites me most, because I have failed to live up to God’s Holy standard in so many ways. I have lied, hated, lusted, boasted, been arrogant, and committed countless other sins. But by the Blood of Christ I am cleaned again and again. So instead of beating myself up or trying to cover up my sin, as though Jesus doesn’t know about it, I can praise Him and thank Him for paying the price for my failures.
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