Jym Shorts

Jym's Shorts - August 5, 2021

by Jym Gregory on August 05, 2021

"Flee sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but the person who sins sexually sins against their own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."   -1 Corinthians 6:18-20
 
Most of my high school years I attended a weekly Bible study. I went because I was being taught, and I was desperate to know more about my faith. No one told me to go, in fact, my parents probably preferred that I not go since it was not a Roman Catholic group (although there were, like me, Roman Catholics in attendance). The study was a bit of a mixed bag—there were some mature Christians there who poured into my life and my walk with Christ, and a few wacky people as well, doing and saying wacky things. I also made some friends. One of them was a young man who, although I did not see it then, was struggling with his sexuality. He was hot and cold in his faith, which I had a hard time understanding at that stage of my life. I was a bit naive and figured if God was really who he declared himself to be, I would follow him no matter what, even if that meant being a bit different than most of my contemporaries. Life has not always remained that simple for me, but I am thankful for the confidence God gave me. My friend was not so fortunate. He was confused and under almost constant temptation. He grew up in a tough home, and I suspect was introduced to pornography and sexual influences early in his life based on the conversations I had with him. I think he really wanted to believe that knowing Christ was worth the struggle, but in the end, he simply gave in. By the time we graduated high school he had left Christianity far behind in his rearview mirror. 
 
In one sense sin is sin. It is always deadly, and it always offers a gift in one hand that it is ready to snatch away with the other. A life given over to sin is a life of illusions. Sexual sin, however, is "a horse of a different color," if I can borrow a phrase from my mother (and the Wizard of Oz). It is different, and it affects us like no other sin. The apostle Paul tells us that it is a sin against our own body. Sexual sin can and does hurt others, but, unlike other sins, it always hurts us in return. It eats away at us like no other sin. It causes guilt like no other sin and when we blunt that guilt long enough so that it doesn't haunt us anymore, we can be sure that we are opening up avenues to becoming the kind of human being that is capable of doing heinous things to other people—even children. Sex crimes tend to be the most inhumane, humiliating, cruel, and brutal crimes known to humankind (Those arising from both homosexual and heterosexual foundations). I saw the results of a few of them as a police officer, and the mental pictures are hard to forget.
 
Sexual sin is not inevitable and it can be resistedThere is no sin too big for God to overshadow in our lives. One of the great strengths of sexual sin is anonymity and secrecy. If we truly want to be free from slavery to sexual sin, the first step out of the dark is to expose it to the light of day. Confession breaks the power of sin, and accountability keeps it at bay. If you know Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you, and he has the ability and the desire to destroy strongholds in your life—sexual and non-sexual. One of the means by which he does that is to give us brothers and sisters in Christ that we can trust, who will come alongside us and prayerfully hold us accountable and encourage us.
 
I do not know any genuine followers of Christ who relish their addictions or their immorality. It is a mark of a Christ-follower to fight hard against our own corruption. The apostle Paul says it this way to Titus: The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. It teaches us to say “No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, as we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people who are his very own, eager to do what is good.
 
God has given us a way out, friends. It begins with confession and repentance and leads to hope and (quite frankly) a daily struggle against sin with the greater promises of God and the strength of the Holy Spirit in our corner. Keep fighting the good fight. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep moving further up and further in. Keep being honest with a Christian you can trust. Sin will not be our master. We are not under law, but under grace.
 
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym

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