The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness
Ephesians 5:1-20
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
We have a lot of light in this generation. The television and the computer. We get to decide where we will put our eyes.
One of the things the Bible says, if you see sexual immorality going on - flee. If someone goes to lunch or coffee with you and spends their time relating all sexual and bodily experences - move away very, very fast. Do Not encourage them. This is not where you should put your time.
When I was volunteering 3.5 years for the local pregnancy assistance center, where we also tested for STI (men clients and women clients), we see a lot of hurt. A tremendous amount of giving what people are told to give and finding spirits crushed. Grief. Depression. Sometimes people never get over the hurt of casual sex and abandonment.
God is wise. He throws in the thought - people are putting themselves in sexual situations hoping to financially better their lives. God did tell us the root of all evil is the love of money. Love of money and getting played is a serious harm.
Better to build the framework with the life God gives you - where hope, faith, love, sincerity and warmth make a life worth leading.
The Passage speaks of deceit. We've met young, young people very proud of the fact their number is in the 50s with sexual partners. 5 is about normal for young people these days and comes with a lot of hurt and brokenness when young children are involved. One of the problems with breaking the rules - one person feels there is a set of natural, moral boundaries. The other person seems to agree.
The difficulty is - one sexually active preson is not going to necessarily tell the truth in order to get what they want and move along. To some people - this is like getting a deer. There is a real cast aside of human compassion to make the goal. This typically begins to happen when sexual partners number in the 20s. A human being becomes a meat filled roller coaster.
Deceit. Drug dealers feel it is a job benefit for the incapacitated person to be raped.There are a lot more rapes out there due to drug usage and shame than are reported or admitted.
I've met outgoing men who say dating on the computer - is hook ups. And the hook up wants sex with him, but has decided immediately this isn't going anywhere. He says there is pressure 'to be the man' give it and be greateful and get your butt home. He said it's bleak. Men are treated like roller coasters too. And feel unloved, unwanted and adrift.
Cohabitation. Particularly among the very poor - the man with a child or children does not necessarily feel he needs to be monogamous. And he doesn't feel he needs to hide from these women, with his children, that he has several 'families'. They need and depend on part of his income. And he will feel free to beat them if they give him trouble. Did the women know that their cohabitation would go this way? No. This is an immoral bastardization of muslim wives. And is catching on.
Cohabitation makes it very easy for one partner to have too much too substance, have a mood, have an impulse and move on. Children are the largest losers here. Many families, many children, no responsibility to help the life of the child.
And it's really important what small children are modeled with single parents and what they are allowed to live and experience.
It's important to tell your kids. Marry. Stay Married - regardless of your marital status.
HA
One thing about television and movies - there is a tremendous amount of repeat material revolving romance. We ought to have a televions series on the conversations revolving around broken hearts - real women - - real men -- real conversations - on the lines being played on people thinking sex gets them the wallet and the marriage. The amount of mess around an STI - is an eye opening event.
No entertainment show deals with the losses this brings. No documentary. No news show of what it's like for a person to remember the child they have been - their hopes and dreams - and the adult 'reality' we expect to 'put out'.
We don't even look at the divorces occuring to the early 20 somethings because they haven't figured out that the movies - basically lie about life.
The sincere and honest truth is casual sex leads to a lot of hurt. And in this hurt, the self esteem of a human being can be permanently damaged leading to a life of hurt behaviors. So many conversations with people are why they were so mistreated. When you find a preditor - they are not going to tell you the truth. We have glamorized the 'preditor' to the point they don't even realize they leave a wake of hurt and sorrow. Sometimes involving children with their habits inflicted around the children.
Where is the Movie or the TV show showing what the children are expected to deal with.
We need to address the real culture.
The real life of what is going on. And the inadequaate job entertainment teaches the junior high schooler, the high schooler and the college ages and young 20s.
Jesus tells us He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. If we want to go forth in life with hope, good faith. plan life on doing the Will of God. The Law of Love one another putting down financial gain. The Law of Liberty includes Mercy.
Living a Christ centered life - involves providing security for others. Seeing children are modeled a life of respectable patience for them. Being responsible for children, not just our own. And putting our eyes and ears on entertainment we can bring to children.
What would Jesus do?
Father God,
We lift up the cares of this generation raising small children. The spouses who expected love and goodness from someone with agenda. We lift up young people going into marriage to find cheating and divorce. We lift up dating crushing self esteem and ruining lives.
We lift up Jesus to give us Romans 8 - ever coming all difficulty, all insincerity, all mess and converting what is painful to healing. What is missing as fulfilled.
We trust in the Goodness and Capacity of God Himself to cover what is frail and weak to become strong and mighty bringing Love and Good News.
The Name of Jesus is where we put our Hope, Faith and LOVE.
And In Jesus we Lift Up our Cares to God who Loves us. We Lift Up our Loved Ones and we will have rest, joy, peace, Love and Mercy.
Jesus is God and He is Able and Willing. Onward In Jesus. Amen.
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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