Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Day 227 - Measuring progress and avoiding the painful pursuit of perfection, Part 1
Scripture focus: It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex… Galatians 5:19 The Message
Sex may be a hot topic in our culture – but it’s a touchy subject for believers. It’s caused a lot of conflict in the church, and for a group that’s supposed to love God, self and others – that’s sad. For those of you who attend NorthStar on a regular basis – you know already that we don’t think it is our job to legislate morality or try to dictate another’s behavior. At NSC, we have a community of people who, for a variety of reasons, have banded together – we belong to each other. And within the confines of that community of faith, we often discuss – sometimes vehemently – what we believe. But we don’t ask each other to agree in order to belong. So I’m not writing to try to tell you what to do about your sex life. I’m saying this: when we commit our lives to believing in God, it means we’re in the process of learning how to step as He speaks. It’s a process. And whether we know how to handle this information well or not, scripture does speak about our sexuality.
When Paul writes out his list of things that make it obvious that a person is trying to get their own way all the time, the list is not the point. The point is that when we try to get our own way all the time, we cannot simultaneously step as God speaks. The list that Paul compiles is symptomatic of a person living independently of God (which is one definition of sin). The first thing on the list is: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex. (Please notice how intentionally I’m trying to NOT pick one sin over another, rank sin, or blame and shame. I’m just saying – here’s the list.)
The Greek word that Paul used is porneia – and its definition includes all sexual activity outside of marriage – including both adultery and homosexuality. This same word is used when describing the act of prostitution and pornography. This definition is found in Rick Renner’s book, Sparking Gems From the Greek, July 15th study.
Although I’m not interested in your sex life – God is. Sexuality is a beautiful gift from God AND it is to be expressed with care. It’s my prayer that if you have any questions about the way you’re expressing your sexuality, that you will search God’s word – not just for the stuff he says we shouldn’t do, but also to see how he wants us to live as sexual beings. Then you may want to go to someone you trust, who you feel has discernment in this area, and discuss not only what you know about yourself, but what you think you know about God and his view on this subject. Explore the topic.
I suggest this because you and I want to have big hearts and fulfill our mission on planet earth. We don’t want to wake up one morning and realize that there was something obviously “not quite right” about how we were living our life – and we didn’t take the time to make a much needed course correction. Remember, we’re not trying to become perfect or follow all the rules – we’re trying to learn from Jesus “the unforced rhythms of grace” (see Matthew 11:28-30).
There’s an article that was published in 1983 entitled The War Within: An Anatomy of Lust - Leadership Journal, Fall 1982, Vol. 3, No. 4, Page 30 that may be helpful for those who are wondering if their sexual expressions are normal…or not. We have a copy of this article on our book table at NSC, or you can access it on our web site at www.NorthStarCommunity.com/articles.htm
Recommended reading: Nehemiah 7, 8 in the morning; 1 Corinthians 9 in the evening
Copyright 2008 Northstar Community
1 comment:
maybe i may have posted my last remark on the wrong day so after reading this one it really made me take a notice again i'll say it it seems to me someone cares deeply about someone but it seem someone may be walking a fine line using this forum to correct somebody's behavior. I could be wrong. and way off base " " usually indicate a direct quote of someone, and when I read yesterday's meditation the first thing I thought was who in the world is this person talking about and why would they use this situation as a meditation using ""a direct quote and what the hadies is going on with this. I don't know but what about our hut?
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