Seven out of Ten

I heard this statistic a couple of weeks ago (didn't confirm it but heard it on the radio as the intro to a conference about helping break the trend). And, it broke my heart to hear it.  I’ve heard it before and it is disturbing.  I shutter at the thought of sharing, but here goes. Seven out of ten church attending men view pornographic material at least once weekly. By the sheer grace of God, I am in the three. I don’t take that lightly because I know that the temptation is always there for sexual impurity of any kind to creep into our lives. So again, it is by the grace of God so that all I can boast in is Christ and his work on the cross for being in the three rather than the seven.

Our bodies are demanding and they are prone toward what is wrong.  They urge us to turn from good to evil every moment of every day.  But scripture urges us that love God to 1) remain unstained from this world 2) confess our sin that we may be made whole 3) and to pray for those that are weak. So, pray for the seven. Sin is serious and it kills. Sexual sin kills individuals, it kills marriages and it destroys whole families.  So, men, put up a fight, it's worth it to prevent the shame that the enemy would bring into our lives.

And so no one thinks I'm exalting myself as better than anyone else, I will add this, being in the three doesn’t make me great.  I fight my own battle every day as Paul said, I discipline myself that after I have preached to others, I myself am not disqulified.  Trust me, I have enough mental images from my own corrupt past (and present) or from today’s mainstream media (from ‘Rated PG’ movies to the evening television drama) and even a casual walk or drive through the local community without ever seeing another naked body.  Some of the ladies make sure that there’s not much left to imagine when they suit up to go out into the public eye.  And, I have no control over that.  So, the struggle is real for me without a need to watch dirty movies or visit websites.  So, I make it my aim to follow the example of Job -- “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl…”  No matter what she's got on, I am pretty sure, it's not my job to examine her for anatomical correctness.

Dang, this was a tough one, but this is the stuff I think about.

much love my friends, much love!