11/18/2017
What sins do you have in your life that have enslaved you? Do you have an overriding desire for something that drives you to commit sin, or a need in your life that makes you complicit or vulnerable to sinful things? Either way, we have been enslaved, and our sin will rule us until we can find emancipation from it. Sexual predators are in the news again right now... let’s take a look.
Sex is a natural function of our humanness, and it is not sin, but beautiful, if we adhere to the bounds that God has set upon it for the good of mankind. We have moved away from a social order in which men fight and connive to breed, and then force themselves on the women they desire, and women have advanced beyond the need to tolerate or encourage such sexual behavior. Yet, that inbred nature is still just below our skin. Men still feel the overwhelming need to breed, and women feel the need to use their sexuality to control their destiny and the security of their progeny.
As I look around today at the outing of sexual predators in our society, I see a predominance of a couple of sins... on the part of men I see a lust for women coupled with the perversion of power, and on the part of at least some of the women that these men impose themselves upon, I see a lust for security, success, and power that either places them in vulnerable situations, or causes them to accept sexual sin as a stepping stone... a cost of doing business, or achieving their desires. In each of these situations there are victims, and only one way out... Jesus Christ.
There are always innocent people that are damaged by sin. In the case of a sexual predator it can be the object on which he or she preys, the woman or man who is innocent and not complicit, but it can also be the families; the children born, the marriages destroyed, the lives taken by guilt and depression... so many ramifications. Is it any wonder that God placed boundaries and rules in effect to protect us from ourselves and the sexuality of others?
“Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
John 8:34 ESV
When we go to the home or private workplace of a more powerful person, and accept offers to be alone with them we are putting ourself in a situation that by its very nature compromises us. If we are a powerful person and allow ourselves to be alone with someone who covets or idolizes the things we have, or can provide, we are also putting ourselves in a situation that compromises us. This isn’t genius, its common sense, and the realization of mankind’s natural inclinations towards sex and its bastard offspring... sexual sin.
There is no safe place in our society when it comes to sexual predation or inappropriate sexual behavior... not the home, our schools, workplaces, halls of justice, seats of government, or our churches and synagogues... nowhere! This isn’t a sin that comes in search of us, but rather a sin that has its very roots, and residence, in us. If not for our ability to keep it under control, it will surface and wreak its destructive power wherever we are, and at a moment’s notice.
Sexual promiscuity and predation become entangled in one of God’s greatest gifts to us as we seek to justify ourselves in this sin we commit. We cover this particular sin by claiming love... even if for a few days or moments. You have heard the excuse “I thought he/she loved me.” Or, “I loved them but they didn’t love me back.” Love takes the blame for a lot of lust, or sexual sin that demands explanation. It is twisted to produce an excuse for failure. In doing so we are fooling no one but ourselves, and human love can’t save us... only the redemption and Agape Love of God, and Jesus Christ.
“The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:35-36 ESV
In today’s news, we are seeing a number of lives that have been destroyed by sexual sin. The news is full of the sordid details, but the destruction isn’t in the newspaper headline, it occurred the moment that a robe was opened to reveal someone’s nakedness, or one body was forced upon another. Sin isn’t about discovery, it is all about being committed. Our destruction is an unsheathed knife that rests precariously within waiting for us to make the wrong move... at that moment it cuts.
So, when we see these lives publicly destroyed, don’t hold the press responsible, or the man or woman who was victimized... hold the sin that was realized in the moment of commission and the person who allowed its escape from containment accountable. There is no hidden sin because God sees them all, and the wage of it is realized the very instant it erupts, and there is only one escape...
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:22-23 ESV
Today we see lives turned upside down by past sexual predation and misconduct, and sin exposed in all of its destructive power. The real world penalty that has long been stifled is at last reaching crescendo, and a point of choice is now realized. Will the perpetrator seek forgiveness from their victims and God? Even if they do, their lives will still show the scar of that sin. The question isn’t how they can erase what has been done, but how they can go on living in the knowledge of it, and in sinning no more.
Rich men will become poor, and mighty women will become weak. Castle homes will become shanties, and banquets reduced to scraps of food, but what becomes clear is the need for the washing of souls, and the rebuilding of mansions... not in this world, but in heaven. The world doesn’t owe us anything, but God has promised to separate us from our sins and forgive us completely. Earthly prices will be paid for sin, and this includes sexual sin, but contrition and pleas for forgiveness will be heard by God. This is the wonder of salvation, and the grace of God.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalms 103:11-14 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your forgiveness of sin through your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you for giving me the ability to stave off sin by my very faith in you. Holy Father, I pray for those who have fallen, and whose lives are in danger of damnation and death. I pray Father that you have mercy upon them, and that even as their worldly possessions crumble, that you lead them to a new life in the realization of you. I pray especially today for the innocent victims of sin that has been perpetuated upon them by others. Loving Father give them peace and consolation in your justice, and vengeance; let them rest in your goodness and know that on their forgiveness of others rests your forgiveness of them. Help them Father to yield those feelings of anger, and the vengeful spirit it feeds in them to you, and to trust completely in your judgement. Give peace where there has been guilt, and joy where sorrow once ruled... Let no sinner escape your hand, or any victim go without your comfort. In you we rest... contrite sinners and their victims alike. Praised be your name!
Rich Forbes