Daily Devotional for Sunday September 16, 2012
Let Me Share a Fact about Satan with You
(Ephesians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:2, 10; Galatians 5:19; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, what exactly is required to surrender 100% to Christ and live by faith?
ANSWER: Die to self daily. That is done by waking up praying, getting in the Word first thing, and staying "plugged in" to God throughout the day. During the day, make decisions pleasing and acceptable to God. Don't forget for one minute you are HIS ambassador. Find ways to serve Him. Trust Him with the problems you encounter throughout the day. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you learn to die to self daily and live for Him instinctively.
Let me share a fact about satan with you. Satan cannot create, he can only imitate and pervert. However, satan is very good at repackaging an old lie to make it look new. It would be like getting a present on Christmas morning, carefully taking off the shiny bow on top, tearing open the nice wrapping paper, opening the box inside to find a pair of athletic shoes. After your initial excitement wanes, you begin to look closely at the "new shoes," and come to realize they are the same athletic shoes you have been wearing for the past year. They aren't new, they were just packaged to look new. That is exactly what "friends with benefits" is. An old lie with a new name.
Friends with benefits is what the young adults today call a friend that they are having sex with. It is nothing more than a new label for sexual sin. In some circles, it refers to a person you are having oral sex with. Another common term young people use today is "hooking up." It means getting together for sex. Hooking up is meeting someone for no other reason than sex, often not even knowing the other person?s name.
Let me be very clear, there is nothing new about "friends with benefits" or "hooking up." They are simply the newest names for having sex with someone you are not married to. It is called FORNICATION. Fornication is a word that means ALL sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage. That includes oral sex and any sort of touching. If you are having sex or engaging in sexual activity with someone other than the person you are married to, it is fornication! It is clearly defined as SIN in the Bible. To see how God feels about this issue, you should get a Bible concordance and look up the word "fornication" and read all of the various scriptures in God?s Word that address this sin.
I get emails daily from people, young and old, asking how "far" they can go with a boyfriend or girlfriend. I often remind them how the Bible says we are to run from temptation, not run to it. Listen, if you are trying to find "the line," you have already crossed it. You are only playing mind-games with yourself. It is like the moth that flies near the light. Ultimately, the moth gets too close and is killed. You have to stop sin at its root, in the heart. Once you let it go from your heart to your head, it is already too late. Once you let it leave your head and actually start to act out the sin, your are done.
Let me explain why fornication is wrong in very real, practical terms. First, it is a perversion of God?s plan for sex between a man and woman. 'God?s plan was for one man, one woman, one lifetime. Sex is part of that relationship between a man and woman. When you have sex outside of that special union, you are opening up very special, intimate emotions that just don?t work outside of marriage. It is a very special part of the marriage experience and by perverting that plan, you cheapen it, you compromise it,and it is never as special as God intended it to be.
Of course, in addition to that side of the fornication issue is the reality of sexually transmitted disease. That is a very real by-product or consequence of this sinful activity. Then you always have the possibility of the woman getting pregnant. Again, this opens the door to a plethora of consequences from abortion, to having a child out of wedlock, to two people who God never intended to be married getting married for all the wrong reasons which almost always ends badly for both people, to any number of other consequences that can dramatically change your life.
THERE ARE ALWAYS . . . ALWAYS . . . ALWAYS . . . CONSEQUENCES FOR SINFUL ACTIVITY. At some level, you will have to deal with the consequences if you choose to commit the sin of fornication.
This issue perfectly illustrates the choices we have. If we choose to do it our way, give in to our physical urges and engage in this sinful activity, not only do we pay a very high price for choosing to rebel against God's plan, but the fact is, what we get for that choice is very little. I can personally attest that it is not in any way shape or form worth the price you have to pay. However, if we obey God, do it His way, this can be one of life's great blessings. Sex is NOT bad. God created it. Enjoyed in the context God created it to be experienced, it is wonderful.
You see my friend, God gave us each free will. We can choose to do it our way and deal with the consequences of our rebellion, or do it God?s way and know the blessings of obeying Him. Often, the blessings we seek in this life are there for us, if we will simply be faithful and obedient. We hold the key to many of our blessings by simply being obedient and doing it God?s way, instead of rebelling and trying to do it our way.
I love you and care about you very much. I know this is a difficult issue for many of you, and many are in the midst of struggling with it right now. God's timing is always perfect, and it is NO ACCIDENT you are reading these words today. God is clearly speaking to you. Again, it is your choice. I can assure you that as long as you live in disobedience, in rebellion, continue to sin in this area, you will continue to struggle, have to deal with the various consequences of this sinful activity, and it will keep you from the close, intimate, daily relationship with Christ He wants to have with you.
I will be praying for you today. Friends with benefits is simply the same old lie from satan with a new name. I know for many this is a major bondage in your life. With the strength God can provide and making it a priority, you can overcome it and see victory. From my own life I can tell you this. If you listen to God, do it His way, it not only works, but it is incredible. Why settle for the scraps this world offers, when we can enjoy the feast our God has prepared for us.
"There is a "friend with benefits? whose name is JESUS. The benefits are the forgiveness of -your sins and life everlasting. He is a TRUE friend, with eternal benefits!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller