Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, April 27, 2008
God is Watching
Seeing, tasting, hearing, feeling, and smelling. God gave us the five senses to use for His glory. Seeing the beauty God created in nature, tasting the food for our sustenance, hearing your children playing, feeling a warm breeze in the summer time, or smelling the aroma of good food cooking. These are all good uses of our senses. But 1 John 2:15 says:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
John gives a clear warning as stated above. The word "love" in this context is a verb to describe the unconditional love God has towards us. John is saying that if anyone loves the world like they should love the Father and love others, and who doesn’t love as God taught us to love (cf. Mark 12 29-31), the love of the Father is not in them.
1 John 2:16-17 says: “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
John’s Lust Problem
John was a divorced, middle-aged man living in the world and was reveling in the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh on a daily basis. You see, this man John had a problem with lust. He was a hard-working chap who once provided for his family. He paid his taxes on time every year. He tried very hard to be a good husband to his wife, but his wife left him years ago claiming John just didn’t show his love for her.
John had a bad problem. He could not shake his problem. It started when he was a young man of 16 years old when his father gave him a magazine. Pretty soon, the magazine wasn’t enough. John found himself looking for more. As the years continued he discovered that pornography could be found online in the “BBS” bulletin board system. More years passed by and to his delight, the age of the Internet came where he could spend some “alone time” with his obsession. When he was at work, he could not wait to get home to his Internet. He hid his problem as long as he could. He knew deep inside that this was a problem, and was not ignorant to think that there was nothing wrong with his obsession.
Most of his friends at work would make jokes about their “porn.” They would say, “You can take anything away from me, but don’t take away my porn!” John once thought as they did saying that it was OK what people did in the privacy of their own homes, and that it didn’t really hurt anyone.
John was in his late 40’s and one day his 19 year-old daughter came to his house for a visit. “Dad, I have a new career. I would like you to come to my work, would you do that?” John thought that was a good idea and told his daughter he would love to. When John arrived at his daughter’s work, he was surprised to see that it was a film studio. John sat down in a chair at the set among the hot lights and waited for the director to say “and, action!”
To his absolute horror, John noticed his daughter was involved in a “love” scene with her co-star. The scene started taking a turn for the worse. He was shocked to find out her daughter was asking for her father to support her new career as a pornographer.
This is not a real story about a real person. But hopefully it drives the point home. Do you think there’s nothing wrong with viewing lewd pictures on the Internet as long as it is in the “privacy of your own home?” The next time you view lewd pictures on the Internet, ask yourself the following questions:
· Is that young woman someone’s 19-year-old daughter?
· Is God watching what I’m doing right now?
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
John gives a clear warning as stated above. The word "love" in this context is a verb to describe the unconditional love God has towards us. John is saying that if anyone loves the world like they should love the Father and love others, and who doesn’t love as God taught us to love (cf. Mark 12 29-31), the love of the Father is not in them.
1 John 2:16-17 says: “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
John’s Lust Problem
John was a divorced, middle-aged man living in the world and was reveling in the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh on a daily basis. You see, this man John had a problem with lust. He was a hard-working chap who once provided for his family. He paid his taxes on time every year. He tried very hard to be a good husband to his wife, but his wife left him years ago claiming John just didn’t show his love for her.
John had a bad problem. He could not shake his problem. It started when he was a young man of 16 years old when his father gave him a magazine. Pretty soon, the magazine wasn’t enough. John found himself looking for more. As the years continued he discovered that pornography could be found online in the “BBS” bulletin board system. More years passed by and to his delight, the age of the Internet came where he could spend some “alone time” with his obsession. When he was at work, he could not wait to get home to his Internet. He hid his problem as long as he could. He knew deep inside that this was a problem, and was not ignorant to think that there was nothing wrong with his obsession.
Most of his friends at work would make jokes about their “porn.” They would say, “You can take anything away from me, but don’t take away my porn!” John once thought as they did saying that it was OK what people did in the privacy of their own homes, and that it didn’t really hurt anyone.
John was in his late 40’s and one day his 19 year-old daughter came to his house for a visit. “Dad, I have a new career. I would like you to come to my work, would you do that?” John thought that was a good idea and told his daughter he would love to. When John arrived at his daughter’s work, he was surprised to see that it was a film studio. John sat down in a chair at the set among the hot lights and waited for the director to say “and, action!”
To his absolute horror, John noticed his daughter was involved in a “love” scene with her co-star. The scene started taking a turn for the worse. He was shocked to find out her daughter was asking for her father to support her new career as a pornographer.
This is not a real story about a real person. But hopefully it drives the point home. Do you think there’s nothing wrong with viewing lewd pictures on the Internet as long as it is in the “privacy of your own home?” The next time you view lewd pictures on the Internet, ask yourself the following questions:
· Is that young woman someone’s 19-year-old daughter?
· Is God watching what I’m doing right now?
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Friday, March 21, 2008
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