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My father in law told me about a preacher who was around when he was young. This preacher said that one day we would be able to freely see people being sexually intimate in the same bed on television. He was berated by those that heard him for this blasphemous talk. But, skip a few decades ahead and it sounds like this guy was very insightful to me. He could see where a path of consistent little compromises would take our country. I had a dream about a year ago, and it was that Disney was having homosexual couples on their shows. With our culture’s preaching of tolerance on these issues, I was not too surprised to find out that this would really be happening in the next few months.
Christians are made to feel like we are mean spirited haters if we simply believe that what God has shown us in His Word is true. With all of the homosexual lifestyles being propagandized to our children from the time they are young, we really need to understand God’s stance on it. We have to remember anything God tells us not to do, is not for our harm but for our good. He doesn’t tell us to not commit adultery because he wants to squelch our need to express ourselves, it is because He knows the heartache and brokenness that results from it.
As I read through Leviticus recently, it gave me great insight into what God approves of and what He doesn’t. The punishment for disobeying His commands may not be the same today, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was something that was to not be done. I used to also think that all sins were equal. Me gossiping is a sin just like murder because a sin is a sin. Reading through Leviticus, I realized that God placed different punishments on different sins. This is because some offenses were more severe than others in His eyes. The more severe the punishment, the bigger deal it was to Him and the bigger the consequences for the people committing them.
Leviticus 20:13
If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.
Leviticus 18:22
Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.
What is so interesting in Leviticus 18, is that there are many more sexual sins listed before this that we would all agree are not a good idea. Such as: Don’t have sex with your mother, don’t have sex with your sibling, don’t have sex with a grandchild, don’t have sex with an aunt, don’t have sex with your daughter in law, don’t have sex with your brother’s wife, and then do not have sex with another man. If we agree with the wisdom found in all the other’s listed, why do we pause with the last one? It is because we have been affected by our society that says we have to accept this as okay. However, I believe God, who created sex, can be trusted with the guidelines He has set up for it.
Just because many people say something is okay, does not make it okay. We do not know better than God. We even find this idea repeated again in the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality, Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.
From the time I was little, I may have an issue with anger. I may have a much stronger desire than you to explode on people when they upset me. I may even have strong desires to break things every time I get angry. However, just because I have these very real urges and desires, at some point I have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in my life and help me resist these urges and live in a way that glorifies God. This is only going to make my life better, even if have struggled with these thoughts for a long time. Not giving in to them is not stifling to me, it is freeing the stronger I get in resisting them.
I have seen a father, who was a cheat with money, pass down this spirit of deception in finances to his son. From the time this son was a young man, he was already cheating people out of their money for his own gain. It was engrained into his very being, and continued for years and years. However, I witnessed something amazing. As he got older and yielded to the Holy Spirit working in his life, he is now one of the most generous and giving people I know in the area of finances.
Everyone struggles with urges and desires contrary to the Word of God. Some have strong desires that others don’t have, but we all have areas that have been harder for us to surrender to the Lord. It doesn’t mean we just give ourselves over to it. We give ourselves over to the Lord, His Spirit, and His direction, and we can gain ground toward the freedom only found in following Him.
Father God, the guidelines You have shown us in the area of sex is not to hinder us! You created something beautiful and I know You want us to experience the true beauty and pleasure of it. Please me help not take my culture’s standard on sex over Your standard. I trust You more than the television shows and stars’ opinions on sex. Please help me to communicate how awesome sex is according to Your plan to my children.