Indulgence

An excerpt from pastor Tim Challies, who blogs daily here:

In Ephesians 5 Paul says, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving." 

...When we laugh at what God calls evil, when we enjoy watching what God says is private, when we speak too crassly or even too frankly about things that are vile, we compromise God's standards. There is to be no filthy talk among us and no crass words. We are not to delight in what God says is evil.

...There are some things that are never to be the topic of conversation among Christians; they are just too evil and to even talk about them is to compromise. Yet sometimes we as Christians enjoy talking about things that are just so evil. We would never do them, but we will read about them and enjoy them in a secondhand way.

Full article here. In that same article, Challies also talks about healthy sexuality within marriage, teaching kids about sex, dealing with sexual sin. He's kinda awesome. I love that he is so honest and straight to the point.

I have blogged before about the harmful way that married sex is portrayed in the media. I have also blogged about the effects that sexual addiction can have on marriage. But honestly, no matter how many times we say these words or condemn it publicly, nothing will be accomplished as long as we keep sneaking home afterward and indulging in whatever form of sexual sin we find least offensive and most enjoyable.

It's easy to forget that indulging with our minds is just as harmful as indulging with our bodies. It can be romance novels or chick flicks full of bedroom scenes. It can be Facebook conversations with old flings or new, attractive friends. It can be laughing at crudely captioned photos or watching videos that, if censored, would be nothing but one long bleep and a big black bar across the screen. It can be almost anything.

It's so easy to indulge. To convince ourselves that it doesn't really matter, not in the grand scheme of things. What's a few R-rated comedies or images online? I have watched things and read things and participated because it's popular and cool, even though I know full well that it's just depravity disguised as pleasure.

"Every thought captive" is a concept we throw around as if it should be easy. It's not. I haven't accomplished it. I know it's not possibly without constant reliance on God, and I stray from Him far too easily. 

In a new article just posted today, Challies writes:
Pornography desecrates the one thing in all of creation that God values above all; pornography makes a mockery of that great portrait God has given us of Christ's faithful, compassionate love.

He also asks the question: "do you love it enough to go to hell for it?" 

That question can be replaced with whatever it is that captivates our attention, our imagination, our passion: "Do you love __________ enough to go to hell for it?"

God gave us passionate souls. He meant for us to love fully, deeply and with all that we have. But He also gave us instructions on what to love. Our love and passion is not meant to focus on just anything that brings us momentary pleasure.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...think about such things." - Philippians 4:8

Think about such things.