Another politician has fallen, along with another high-profile Pastor. Both stories come within weeks of each other. Adultery. The moral fabric of a home torn. Some marriages may survive it, though they’ll walk with a permanent limp. Others will never recover. Carnage will lie everywhere.
Not nice to think about, is it? But we’ve got to face it head-on, especially within Christianity. I’ve read lists of “commandments for purity” before, such as Ed Young’s, which he posted on his blog today. I’m thinking through my own right now and would encourage you to do the same.
Have boundaries and limits. Communicate them. Avoid secret places in your life aside from the closet of prayer. Satan loves to lurk in the dark and dusty, cobwebbed corners of our souls. He kicks up dirt where we’ve refused to purify ourselves.
Guard the eyes – the gateway to the mind. Guard the mind – the gateway to the heart. And guard the heart- the gateway to the soul.
Don’t fall into legalism, that life in which living by your own rules overtakes your intimate walk with God. But have the guts to have some standards and to live by them.
May we salvage what is left of the reputation of Christ-followers, and may our families, children, and churches be preserved and revived. Let’s get pure!
photo credit: Olly M Pus
My wife is speaking tonight at Bethel’s Ladies Retreat over in Grove, Oklahoma. The goal of the retreat this year is to help women discover, value, and share their “story” – the story of what God has done in their lives. My wife’s story is one of waiting, which is what she’s going to share there.
In preparation for it, I wrote a narrative, kind of a short historical fiction story about Anna, the prophetess who was present at the dedication of Jesus. I wanted to share it here. It’s rather lengthy, and do remember that it’s highly embellished – not intended to be accurate, but you’ll definitely see the biblical story of Anna (a few short verses in Luke 2) woven throughout.
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Nobody is closer to me than my wife and daughter, whom the church which I attend could never replace. But I remember Rick Warren talking about how we should be “doing life together” with our church family because we’re really preparing to live with them as family for all of eternity. Today reminded me of what it means to be a church family.
First, a friend in our church brought me a baseball and an 8×10 photo autographed by Ozzie Smith! Harold knew I loved baseball, so he went out of his way at work last week to get to the table where “the Wizard” was signing and he had me on his mind. That’s family!
Then, we worshipped together. We’ve gone to two services, which has worked out well – our overall attendance has actually jumped considerably. But today, we combined into one service and had to put out some chairs to contain the crowd. The children’s choir sang for us and then we all had lunch together in our gym. So we ate together, which is a very emotionally connecting activity. Eating together… praising God together… that’s family!
And in our evening service, we shared testimonies of thanksgiving. Many of us cried, we laughed, and we rejoiced that God has carried us through great growth and many changes in the last year and has bound us together as brothers and sisters on the same side.
God has surrounded my family with a great church family that acts like family, and I love them!! I praise God for them, and I’m thankful, so thankful that I get to spend eternity with such wonderful people!
I'm a Christian, a Pastor to 
