Thanks, for all of your prayers on our behalf.
in Christ,
AP
Lately, I’ve had opportunity to talk with a lot of people about the enormity of God and how often and easily we minimize how big He really is. When I minimize who God is, I by default magnify who I am and sin is just the natural outpouring of this arrogance. I just “had” to finish an article I was writing and “had” to get some research done on another project I’m working on, so I stayed in the office a bit longer, denying my kids some Daddy time and my wife the break she needed from a long day. Not a sin that shows up in the 10 Commandments very easily, but on second glance, I’ve broken the first and 6th commandments.
When my agenda trumps the godly order of my responsibilities as a husband and father, my priorities are out of whack. When the Holy Spirit sets off my “Spider Sense” telling me I’m spending time at work that was meant for my wife, I’m committing, on some level, adultery.
But, that’s just me – what about you?
How do you do when that alarm goes of in your head that tells you you’re doing something wrong? Do you listen to it or do you bow up with pride and allow your agenda to be bigger and more important than the God who created the universe and paints history on a canvas larger than space and time? How’s that workin for ya? Do you, too, get anxious because there’s not enough time to complete your all important task, so you’re tempted to rob Father Time to protect your agenda? Humility… Submission… the result – care.
Today, pray for me – that I dig deeper into the fact that God gives us the antidote to His opposition – humility. Today, be encouraged, while you may have drunk the same poison of pride, the very same antidote is available to you.
Walk in freedom. Walk in repentance.
in Christ,
AP
I have over 1200 Facebook friends – people like me. Seasons of Life has over 100 “fans”. But, am I playing to the audience that counts? When I think of the effort I’ve put into getting people to become a fan of me, I now begin to wonder – have I wasted energy, time, and effort in the wrong pursuit? I am already dearly loved by God. The Creator of the Universe calls me His child, His adopted, His friend. Shouldn’t that be enough?
I’m re-reading “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan and I’m stuck in the introduction:
“From my perspective, the Holy Spirit is tragically neglected and, for all practical purposes, forgotten. While no evangelical would deny His existence, I’m willing to bet there are millions of churchgoers across America who cannot confidently say they have experienced His presence or action in their lives over the past year. And many of them do not believe they can.”
What’s the difference between a pregnant woman and a light bulb?
At the risk of gaining your attention at the expense of your respect, can I explain myself before I give the punchline? The bible teaches us to avoid foolish talk and coarse joking and I believe that we should. It also teaches us to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” I have a ton of context to give you as we unpack the matters at hand today, among them, my own past, experiences, and most importantly the truth that stops me and should stop us all dead in our tracks as we journey down these paths.
Nicholas Cage describes a powerful toxin to one of his CIA superiors in the movie “The Rock”: “…it’s very terrible, Sir. It’s something we wish we could disinvent.” So, here’s your punchline: You can’t unscrew a light bulb. There are things in this life, like hitting “publish” on this blog post, like inventing a super-poison, like crossing over the line of virginity and into “sexually active (or, activated)” that just cannot be undone. No matter how hard I scrub, there’s nothing but time, the blood of Christ, and the renewing of my mind (Romans 12.2) that can erase the many pornographic images that were etched on the canvas of my imagination from the time I was first exposed to it at age 8 or 9.
I cannot “unsleep” with the dozens of lovers I’ve had in my life any more than
Here’s some background in case you’ve not been paying attention:
I grew up in a small enough town that just about everyone knew everyone else’s business. Yet, I was taught to be sexually experimental by two other boys in my neighborhood before I was even in my teens. This led to a prolonged period of sexual promiscuity, a decades long addiction to pornography, and sexual identity issues up to the threshold of my thirties.