"This is what the Lord says: ‘For the many crimes of Israel, I will punish them. For silver, they sell people who have done nothing wrong; they sell the poor to buy a pair of sandals. They walk on poor people as if they were dirt, and they refuse to be fair to those who are suffering. Fathers and sons have sexual relations with the same woman, and so they ruin my holy name. As they worship at their altars, they lie down on clothes taken from the poor. They fine people and with that money they buy wine to drink in the house of their god." (NCV)
"Fathers and son have sexual relations with the same woman."
Repeatedly in scripture, there are commands about sexual purity. The Lord Jesus took these even a step further:
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you tosin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV)
We—human beings—are created in the image of God. Even more than that, the Father uses marriage as the way to describe the relationship between our Savior and His Church (we are His Bride). The Old Testament also used adultery as a way to describe the times when Israel turned from God and worship idols. There is some sacred about sex, about the bonding between a man and a woman. This sacredness was defined by God Himself. But even more than that—even if God hadn’t required sexual purity in the Old Testament, which He did—we, as Christians, are commanded to be sexually pure:
"Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:18-19 NKJV).
Once we are saved, the Holy Spirit dwells inside us. Every sin we commit, He witnesses, but the sexual sins are done against His temple—our bodies. Paul clearly tells us that we don’t have the rights over our bodies once we are saved. Our bodies now belong to God, bought with the price of the blood of the Lord Jesus. Everything we see, taste, touch, experience must now be done with the knowledge that we are to keep this temple, this body, pure.
Is that what happens?
Most people ignore the ending part of Matthew 5. They can’t imagine that the Lord Jesus truly meant to cut off our hands or pluck out our eyes. But what if that is symbolic and what He meant was for us to totally eliminate all that which draws us to sin? What then? What books draw us away from Him? What TV shows? What movies? What activities? What habits?
I have known for a long time that I had a problem with food. I watched my friends, even those who struggled with their weight like I do. They didn’t seem preoccupied with food like I am. And I suddenly realized that what I needed to do was to purge my home of those foods which were a temptation to me. I also have had to exercise my self-control (and my prayer life) to avoid buying those foods in the store. Food is for sustenance, not for comfort or pleasure (regardless of what the advertisements tell you). I’m learning to resist for the sake of taste or pleasure, and one thing that’s helping is that I’ve cut myself off from the temptation.
What things keep us from the Lord? Do we rush home from church, ignoring the end of the service and wishing the pastor would just "shut up" so that we don’t miss the football game? What about the mid-week service? Have we stopped going so that we won’t miss the latest episode of our favorite television series? What about tithes and offerings? Have we lowered our giving so that we can afford the latest smart phone with all its new gadgets? Of course I could go on and on, but I don’t need to. If you ask the Holy Spirit, He will begin to reveal to you the problem areas in your life. And after a while, if you are diligent in your desire to please Him, those activities will stop "tasting" so good. You will see the destruction in your life and not want it anymore.
As believers, we need to brutally look at what we do and take inventory. We need to begin with sexual purity and move on from there. Are there images in movies, in TV shows, we shouldn’t be seeing? Are we attracted to things of darkness or things that can live only in God’s light? Where are our priorities? Do we miss church because we can’t miss that activity, that sporting event, that gathering? Have we missed being with the Lord because other things are gradually taking His place?
The Lord warned the Israelites about their sexual purity because He knows that sexual purity is part of the slippery slope that takes us away from Him. If we have questions about our sexual purity, then we need right now to look at our lives and see where else we have wandered away.
Don’t you want to be close to the Father, to be in the center of His perfect will? If so, then you will have to cut away things in your life that are now standing between you and Him. I’m doing that and it’s hard. But it’s so worth it.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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