FLEE!

During my daily readings this morning, I found myself reading this verse from the book of Job:

Job 1:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes.  How then could I look at a young woman?”

This got me to thinking…just what did Job mean when he said that he made a covenant (an agreement) with his eyes…and followed it up with the question, “How then could I look at a young woman?”

Did this mean Job never looked at young women?  What about his own daughters when they were young women?  What about young women in the marketplace?  How did he avoid them?  No, common sense told me that it meant more and yet, less than that.

It could not have meant that he did not ever see any young women.  So it meant less than what we see at face value, and yet, the truth is that it means so much more than what we can see at face value.  The Hebrew language means much more than just “look” - the word used means (among other things), “to separate mentally, distinguish, look well to, view, think - to get.”

This tells me that Job was saying that he had made an agreement that when he saw a young woman, he would not let what he saw, turn into desire, or let his thoughts dwell on a  young woman in a way to get her for himself.  In other words - he was avoiding lust and sexual sin - which begins not with an outward act, but with an inward desire.

From here, my mind went naturally to 2 Timothy 2:22 which says, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

The Amplified version expands on this by translating the verse in this way:  “Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.”

This flies directly in the face of our culture today, where sex is used to sell everything from hamburgers to cars.  Our televisions pump sexual situations and sexual immorality straight into our homes on a daily, and often an hourly basis.  

Sadly, if you sound the alarm about this in our culture you are labeled old fashioned, unrealistic, or a prude.  If you sound the alarm in the church you are told that you are legalistic, or that you are trying to avoid the “real world.”
Funny, Paul instructed Timothy to flee that which would be considered lust, or lustful.
Why do we no longer do this in the church today?  I get why the culture no longer does it, but why are you labeled as legalistic if you flee, or run away from nudity, sexual innuendo, scantily clad men & women in advertisements, or others visual forms of lust?  Is Paul being legalistic here?  Is Paul being unrealistic here?  If so, would that not make God a legalistic?  Would that not make God unrealistic?  After all, the Scriptures re not man-made, but God-breathed.

I think the truth is that too many of us as Christians just don’t want to work as hard as we would need to in order to “flee youthful lusts.”  Since our culture is saturated with it, we would have to be always on guard - and plan on taking measures to deal with it…and that takes work.

I would encourage every believer I know to purchase the book, “The Hole In Our Holiness” by Kevin DeYoung, for the chapter titled, “Saints and Sexual Immorality” - it is worth reading and the price of the book for this chapter alone.

Oh be careful little eyes what you see…

It is time for the saints to once again flee.

Making a covenant with my eyes,
Pastor Dave

The last few weeks have been unlike any others in my life. I cannot fully describe it, only to say that I have felt revived in my relationship with the Lord in a way like never before.

I feel fired up, yet humbled down.

I see the grace of God more clearly, and yet am aware of the depth of my sin more deeply.

I see people in a different way. I see souls…souls in need of healing, in need of grace, in need of mercy…in need of Jesus.

I see time differently.

I turned 55 in September. My natural Father died at 49. My Mom went to be with Jesus at 62. How much time do I have left?

How much time to I have left to love my wife and kids? How much time do I have left to make an eternal impact in the lives of those around me? How much time do I have left to share with people that they need Jesus?

I feel the Lord calling me to a level of commitment that I have never felt in my 44 years of knowing Him.

I feel that He is calling me to totally abandon myself to Him. I hear Him telling me to pour myself out for Him.

And I want to do this…oh how I want to do this.

But….

But I am afraid.

What will it cost?

I know the answer.

Everything.

What changes will it require me to make?

I know the answer.

Everything.

And so, I must decide.

Two roads lay before me.

Do I take the narrow one that He is calling me to travel?

Or do I continue to walk my own path…follow Jesus my own way?

I know the answer…even as I am afraid of the answer, I know what it will be.

I will choose the narrow road.

I am sure I will stumble down this road.

I am sure I may even veer off of it from time to time.

I have no doubt that I will fall on occasion.

But when I do, when I fall and skin my knees, I want to bleed Jesus.

I want my spiritual muscles to be stretched beyond my abilities, and to ache and cry out Jesus!

I want to every breath I have to be Jesus.

Pray for me, I think the ride is going to get a bit bumpy from here on out.

Pastor Dave

Jeremiah 15:16 "Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I am called by Your name, Yahweh God of Hosts."

When I read these words of the prophet Jeremiah today I couldn't help but think of the number of people I know who search for answers everywhere except for the Word of God.  

I thought of how often I have approached reading the Word as an exercise  or a discipline, but not as a delight.  Don't get me wrong, there is benefit in exercise and discipline, even if we don't find it a delight - but shouldn't we who are the children of God, who call the Lord "Abba" - Father - Daddy - delight in reading His love letter to us?

I was watching the "Elephant Room 2" video last night - Session 3, Conversation 6 discussing the moral failings of pastors and church leaders, Crawford Loritts made the following statement, "...I've never talked to anyone who fell morally who was consistent in their times alone with God.  Never.  And I've been in the ministry for forty years."  He goes on to explain it a little deeper, "You can read your Bible  until the cows come home  and be legalistic about it and that is not a cure for sin.  What I'm saying is that the authentic passion for Jesus, a hunger and thirst to love Him more, to know Him more, to create that spiritual hothouse...we need to create cultures in our church where holiness and passion for Jesus is everything."

The connection between the two is obvious.  We cannot and will not fall more in love with Jesus, know Jesus more, have more passion for Him and hunger and thirst for Him apart from time spent in His Word.  John tells us that Jesus is the Word!

John 1:1 & 14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father,full of grace and truth."

The answer to overcoming sin in our lives is really simple. Read the Word. Delight in the Word. When the Word becomes our joy - sin will always look ugly and wretched and sick. When our relationship with Jesus is of the utmost importance to us, we will always want to spend time learning of Him, drawing closer to Him, loving Him, communicating with Him...and yes, reading His love letters...all 66 of 'em.


Time to hit the Book,
Pastor Dave

First one to comment on this blog - not on the facebook post but on this blog - I will mail you out a free book.  I have one copy of "Revival Praying" by Leonard Ravenhill.  It is an older edition - but this is a must read book for anyone who desires revival and is passionate about prayer.  Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of some regular posts on this often neglected blog of mine.  Post a comment about the blog - about the book - about the author of the book - about yourself - whatever, and if you are the first - the book will be sent out within 48 hours of the post!