Someone I love very much told me I need to lighten up about sex sin because that sin is no different than any other. That's not what I read in I Corinthians 6. There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
The Corinthians were putting up with rot wihin their midst that even made the world suck in its breath. One man was sleeping with his stepmother. Yuk! Paul's words to the church: "and it doesn't even faze you!"
I hate legalism, but I also hate the soft attitude many Christians have toward sex outside marriage, and now, acceptance of homosexuality as a valid-with-God lifestyle. These are Christians that do not believe that the Word of God is inerrant. On Wednesdays and Thursdays a handful of God's children of different ages (including some who have paid a price for having sex outside marriage) are taking in Paul's very direct words to these Corinthians. "I don't want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself", he says in Chapter 10. "Less than ourselves?" What does he mean? Our preciousness to God was measured by every drop of the blood of Christ. From that base we live in the world, but not of it. It isn't easy. We need His Word every day (for we must live by every word that comes from the mouth of God) and we need each other for loving support, correction and prayer.
We are not going to lose our salvation if we are truly born from above, but the power of God is diminished when we sin and do not acknowledge our sin to God and to each other. That was the glaring condition in the church at Corinth. They knew all about the doctrine regarding forgiveness of sin; there was nothing wrong with their theology, but they did not undertand that the Holy Spirit Who indwells every believer enables us to die to sin and live in His power. When His power is diminished, it is not likely that anyone will be brought into the Kingdom.
The Corinthian church was oozing with every kind of sin, including pride and haughtiness about their knowledge of doctrine. ... boy howdy, is that ever a subtle one! Yes, I hold a hard line about sex outside marriage and that is not going to change, but am I capable of withholding grace from those who are caught in its trap? You bet! ....and that is sin.
Many of you ask me to continue to write my stories so here is a story about Ted, Doug and me. ...and God. This week, on June 12th, my Ted will have been with Jesus for two years. We were together for sixty. As ecstatic newlyweds, we were oblivious to how easy it was for us to conceive a child. I had been carrying little Doug in my body without knowing it for longer than I care to admit, when my car was slammed into at a Minneapolis intersection and I was thrown into the back seat. When a policeman delivered me to my husband, his first words were: "Honey, are you all right?" It didn't matter that our first car was demolished. A few hours later, after traveling by street car across the city to a doctor who took care of students free of charge, and learning that my body had not been damaged, then hearing the shocking words "...and your baby is not damaged either!" Ted's words were: "Oh, honey, is that all? You are all right?"
That was my Ted. Thousands of times when he could have been shaken, his response was never about anything but the grace and mercy of God. Our Doug was born ten months to the day after we were married. He died ten months and twenty-six days after his dad. You see, I had them both nearly the same amount of time. Is it any wonder that my bouts of grieving still overwhelm me at times? After going over the fact that both are together again in Heaven with Jesus, I give into the feelings of loss for awhile, then I settle into the reality that I am not released yet from my assignment here on earth.
HYMN OF THE WEEK: SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUSSafe in the arms of Jesus; safe on His gentle breast
There in His love o'ershaded; sweetly my soul shall rest
Hark! 'tis the voice of angels borne in a song to me
Over the fields of glory; over the jasper sea
SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS; SAFE ON HIS GENTLE BREAST
THERE BY HIS LOVE O'ERSHADED
SWEETLY MY SOUL SHALL REST
Love,
Jo