Referenced Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 18, Matthew 5:28, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5,
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. – 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
So time to get into the “being real” aspect of this blog yet again and I have come to learn these are generally the most uncomfortable ones for me to share. Sexual Immorality; what is it? I had read and heard it most of my life but never really had a firm understanding for myself of what exactly this meant. This was one of the areas where I thought I knew what the Bible was talking about but as I began to dig deeper the revelation that God brought forth was staggering. I urge you to question your beliefs, research them for yourselves and be sure that they can be found in the Bible. I am coming to realize that much of my generation is oppressed by the ideology of past generations and although they mean well some of their beliefs are not even able to be found Biblically justifiable. When challenged all they can generally say is, “That's just how I was raised.” So if someone can’t show you Biblical foundation for a specific belief or doctrine should we really be implementing it into our own life as a fact?
Sorry, I digress, on to the study of “Sexual Immorality”. Did you know that when you go back to the original Greek writings of the New Testament the word used for sexual immorality was πορνεια or porne pronounced (por-ni’-ah). This is what shocked me; Porne is the origin root of where we get the word "Pornography" in today’s English language. Did you catch that?? Pornography! So to unpack this one even further the word porne is defined 1) illicit sexual intercourse 1a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc. This isn’t coming from my opinion I am just reading the Bible and digging a little deeper than most people would. Paul and other Biblical authors through the inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16) are instructing believers to abstain from illicit sexual intercourse, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals that sort of sounds like Pornography to me. Wow, really think about that for bit.
Now on to the “being real” aspect of this study, I myself have dealt with various forms of Sexual Immorality in my life in one way or another. I don't even have the time to explain the damage pornography has on a person's mind but trust me porn isn't a harmless thing. Pornography was always a big deal amongst the guys I used to hang out with and sure enough if you didn’t talk about it and fit right in with the crowd you were pretty much a nerd, a loser and not a "real man". For this reason and others I was heavily involved with it from a pretty young age and it quickly consumed me until I had to start attempting to act out the fantasies I was seeing in images, movies & magazines. The actual number of my sexual partners (prior to my marriage) is truly unknown. One compromise after another I soon found myself sexually involved with a married woman; I by definition was an adulterer. All this had started with just one glance at something I shouldn’t have ever glanced at in the first place. Through this self-constructed valley, I was led back to God and restored I also found great comfort and encouragement through the account of King David's life in 2 Samuel 11 & Psalm 51. Something that I find rather ironic about Pornography is how openly this topic is received outside the church where it's just normal, accepted and almost expected but no one ever really talks about it in the church and I guarantee you that it affects many men, women, and even children attending your church today.
You see God instructs us in areas of our lives because we are not meant to take on all the baggage that comes with doing things outside His Will. Sex is a wonderful God-given thing to be enjoyed within the bounds of marriage. I know that in today’s modern society this is not a popular thing to say but it’s evident that Sexual Immorality (aka Pornography) is a cancer consuming our generation; just turn on prime-time TV for 10 minutes and I promise you’ll see some form of it. Now according to Paul’s account we can see that Sexual Immorality has been around for centuries; however, the times are much different now. I believe it’s much more difficult to avoid the “suggestions” that are blatantly thrown in our faces day in and day out. With technology and information at our fingertips these things seem to be around every corner. The only way to combat these things is to really guard what you allow your eyes to see (2 Samuel 11:2), stay in God’s word (Joshua 1:8) and pray (Mark 14:38). God can and will help you with this if it is an area that you struggle with and I am proof of that. You just need to ask Him to help you (Jeremiah 33:3, Psalm 50:15). Now, I am by no means saying that I am never tempted in this area anymore but through God’s grace I can now recognize the signs of my weakness and lean on His strength to find the way out (1 Cor 10:13) when temptation does come and believe me it will come. If you do need help call out to God in prayer; I also recommend very good Christ-based study course that I completed some time ago. I found that it really did help me in this area of my life and it was instrumental to help get me to another level in Christ. The course is free and you can check it out --> Setting The Captives Free (Sexual Purity)
Take Care & God Bless
-E
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