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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion January 11, 2007 |
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Frontline Devotion for Tuesday, January 11, 2007 By Fritz Foltz
Everyone who looks at woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5: 28
It’s a shame this verse has almost disappeared since President Jimmy Carter’s interview with “Playboy” magazine. His acknowledgment to a group dedicated to self-centered sex that the text troubled him seemed naïve. It’s a shame, because Jesus’ words address a major issue in our society. We presently live in a sexual revolution that has certainly granted some healthier conditions, especially for women. But it has also landed us in confusion and sometimes down right perfidy.
Just look at what it has done to the Church. Sexual issues fill the lists of her concerns including same- sex marriages, ordination of gays and lesbians, abortion and unwanted pregnancy, the breakdown of marriage and the family. Of course, we also have to deal with the troubling actions of priests molesting children entrusted to them and pastors committing adultery against their wives and congregations.
I do not think Jesus was trying to make us feel guilty about our feelings but rather calling us to respect all people. Many of his words called on men to respect women in a completely male dominated society. Two thousand years later we still have trouble in gender relationships.
A great deal of the problem is we have difficulty separating sex and lust. Good sex respects the other person involved. Lust does not. Good sex is a way to express mutual love between two people. Lust regards the other as a sexual object, a way to satisfy my own desires. Sex is wonderful, but lust is not.
Lust and coveting amount to the same thing. That is why our society uses lust, not sex, to sell everything from magazines to milk to cars. Lust works, because it is based on making the other person into an object and seeking to possess it. Lust makes sex into just another form of coveting that seeks to possess a thing. Good sex would never work for selling, because it regards other people as sacred persons to be respected, never things to be used or possessed.
Another part of the problem is contemporary society teaches that sexual desire is an impulse that must be satisfied if we are to be healthy. It assumes disciplining or restraining such an impulse is dangerous and unhealthy. It does not take long to realize that such teaching is speaking about lust not good sex and that such self-centered thinking can be used to justify rape.
Free Sex is nothing new. Throughout history there have been groups, even Christian ones, that have tried to practice it. It has always failed. What is touted as good sex deteriorates into lust without discipline and thoughtfulness. It does not seem wise to suggest that what human experience for thousands of years has taught us to regard as the discipline necessary for living together should now be dismissed as mere repression. Discipline is important if we are to live in a peaceful community where all people are respected as children of God.
Let us pray: Holy Father, we thank you for your steadfast faithfulness that never uses or abandons us. Forgive us our failures and inspire us to follow your example. Enable us always to appreciate and respect the sacredness of all people and to treat all as our brothers and sisters. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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