By worldly standards, I was doing great. Just one little problem. By God's standard of sexual purity, I wasn't even close to living His vision for marriage. Clearly I'd taken steps toward purity, but I was learning that God's standards were higher than I'd ever imagined and that my Father had higher hopes for me than I had dreamed.Fred goes on to describe that because of his on-going "hidden" sin, his prayer life was "feeble," his commitment to his wife was not 100%, and his church life was tepid. Fred concludes: "I finally made the connection between my sexual immorality and my distance from God. I was paying hefty fines in every area of my life. Having eliminated the visible adulteries and pornography, I looked pure on the outside to everyone else. But to God, I'd stopped short."
As believers, God wants more for us than mediocrity toward holiness. But this journey is not easy. Eliminating the external temptations and related outward behaviors is good, but God cares most about the heart. And we can't hide the dispositions of our hearts from Him. God wants to free men from slavery to sin, including sexual slavery. And because He loves us, He will do what it takes to change us more and more into the image of His Son.
Often, that process is difficult and painful, but the outcomes are a growing sense of peace, freedom, and contentment.
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