second part

Lust pt. 2: They are watching and they’re not impressed
Now I am directing this next here to the guys because let’s face it we have some of the worst things about us. Anyway, men, let’s look at this scenario for a second. You see a very attractive woman while out one day and you decide she is worth more than a glance and begin to stare. Now stop right there and listen: switch places. Now imagine yourself in her shoes. How does it feel, to have a bunch of guys looking at you, staring at you? Silently judging you and making comments in their minds, that is no where near appropriate. How does it feel? Not very good I would imagine. Let’s switch back now. How do you feel as a man, a man of God I should remind you, who is looking at his creation, your sister I might add like that. Not as appealing is it now is it? The worst part is the world is okay with us doing this and approves wholeheartedly. I’m reminded of something that my new testament Professor told us. To me it was a sort of reprimanding. He had said to the women of the class that “any man who cannot keep his eyes focused and doesn’t let them wander doesn’t deserve your time”. Now at first you may be like “well there are people everyone and my attention span shrinks”. Well that would work if that were what he was talking about. That’s right guys if you cannot stay focused on her eyes she will see you as not worth her time. Also don’t think you are getting away with it, you’re not. Women notice, and they are not impressed by our “subtlety”. We’ve been caught red handed. Now ask yourself how many women have you done this too? Now imagine if they all knew what you wee so subtly doing but never called you on it. How their opinion of you must be! Luckily we have a great mentor on our side: Jesus Christ

First part

Okay so before we begin there are a few things to go over. First off much of this comes from Joshua Harris’ book, “I Kissed Dating Good-Bye” which is really an incredible book, and is (if you interested) in the library and I also have a copy as well though it will be on loan until further notice. Personally I want to give most of the credit to him since if I didn’t read it I’d never thought of writing on what I am going to write on. Second I give the most credit and Glory to God for inspiring me to write and what to write. Don’t give me praise or applause I just wrote it, but wouldn’t have without either element, the most important being God. I would also like to give credit and thanks to Mary Ann for giving me the book, which led to me reading which, God used for me to write this. I don’t target singles. I don’t target couples. I don’t target those who are married, getting married or just sitting in their room contemplating what it’s all about. I write for whoever will read. So please read and hopefully enjoy. If you have comments, concerns, suggestions or challenges to pistols at dawn there is a neat little comment box on the bottom so please feel free to write what you will and be brutally honest please. Also I apologize in advance for offending anyone. Also I have broken this into many segments so there will be many parts of this note coming so be prepared. If there is anything else please feel free to tell me if I missed anything. Thank you.
Lust: Steps to destruction and running to freedom
Right off the bat we go into something that everyone deals with: Lust. Let me start by saying I am not being judgmental on anyone, because I am just as guilty as the next guy or girl who has had lusted and don’t count myself out. It’s a struggle that everyone has an issue with lust though men are more focused on when it comes to lust but that doesn’t disqualify women. There is a part in the book that discussed lust, temptation and where it starts and to convey this point they use one of the most prominent figures in the Bible: King David. This was a man after God’s own heart and who despite this went on to become an adulterer and murderer. Worst of all this wasn’t done in one leap but several steps that led David to this point in his life. Now you may ask yourself where this all started going downhill for David right? Could it be when he saw her, when he brought her over and slept with her, when he had first kissed her? Or could it have been when most kings were with their armies this time of the year and he wasn’t? Lust, temptation, its all a process and it begins with a decision we make. Sometimes a situation arises or we put ourselves there in a situation. Harris describes it beginning with David setting himself up, starting with him choosing to stay behind and not go with his army, leading him to be pacing on the roof and looking across and seeing her. David saw her, just a glance at first. A glance turned into a stare, a stare into a thought, a thought into wanting and bingo he was trapped and was taking steps rapidly to his ruin. The story of David shows us how fast a person can just descend down by taking steps and it seems almost hopeless for us but there is another person in the Old Testament we can look to: Joseph. We all remember the story of Joseph, the boy sold by his own brothers into slavery eventually coming to the house of an important Egyptian. It what happens here that is the subject of our attention.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"
8 But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
Genesis 39:6-12
Now I don’t know this for a fact but I could imagine that Joseph’s boss’ wife was probably very beautiful and despite that what did Joseph do? That boy ran like there was no tomorrow, even leaving behind his own clothes when she grabbed at him. I think we should take both examples to heart though despite the difference in circumstances. David eventually repented but not before suffering for what he had done and he still served God and Joseph ran in the face of temptation. Joseph could have gotten away with it, the wife was approaching him, no one would know. But Joseph knew that God would know and that God didn’t want him to do such a thing. Joseph chose the right steps and even though David at first didn’t he did fix his steps eventually. We should take lessons form David and Joseph to prevent ourselves from stepping into sin, temptation and lust. Stop and think about how often have you said to yourself “I should have known better”, or “now that I look back I could have stopped myself”. It happens to everyone. Happened to me more times than I can count but we should learn form what happens and change before it too late. We need a repenting heart. So clip lust before it can spring up into something more. Because I don’t care what it is, but look away! Now I am not saying its easy, by no means is it, it takes time, patience, obedience and most of all God.

Its who you know

I noticed something a few weeks ago. In the midst of one of my hours of depression and self-loathing I realized something. As I sat and wondered what everyone else was doing as I was bored I felt depressed for the fact that I felt alone. Then I realized something. I rely on people far too much and not enough on God. Why? Well I found that it was more so that I interact with people on a daily basis and have been my whole life. Well don't I interact with God on a daily basis too? Well whom do we see, become emotionally attached to and focus our time, energy and emotions on most of the time? People. Day in and day out, but then how much do we give to God? There's church on Sunday, chapels at our schools if we have them there, there's Wednesday night church, and any ministry we're involved in. So what's wrong then with us if we do we all of this and yet it seems we put all our person in people. Some may make the case that yes, we do spend our time face to face with people all day and that people surround us daily. So better interaction on a physical level with people? Okay but isn't God always with us? I mean literally with us. In our sleeping, when we're awake, standing in line for food, when watching a movie etc. So what is the difference? What's more how often has God hurt you compared to people? God hasn't told you "It's not you its me" and left or told you about how sorry He was he did that to you and that it'll never happen again or that that person meant nothing to them and it was all a mistake. People do though. How often do we strive to get a persons attention just to be able to date them and have a relationship when Christ has a love deeper than any one person can give us. How often do we go out of our way to do something for a friend that means so much to us we'll do anything at the drop of a pin but when Christ asks us we give any and every excuse in the book to get out of it? What is it about us? I fear because I know more of people than I do about God, my creator. I have spent so much effort, time, tears and pain for people but how much for God? Put it on some scales and weigh it, see what it comes to. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that for people, but do we give the same attention of ourselves, basically our being to God? So what do we do? Spend more time in the word, go to church so much we live there, or forsake people and live in solitude devoting our day to God? To be honest I don't know. I don't have an answer. If I did it'd be my answer not yours, right?