SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2019
8:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Perversion”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 But fornication,
and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as
becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which
are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” “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”
(ESV).
I
am not sure that I noticed the word “but” as the first word of these two
verses, and as I think about that I believe that the word “but” is comparing
what Paul wrote in the first two verses, as evidenced that verse three begins a
new paragraph. Not all of the Bible
versions begin with that word.
The
following is a quote from John MacArthur that helps us understand more about
our strong sexual nature, but first I want to talk about what a man said in a
study I attended a few years back. His
name was Bill Glass, and Bill played professional football in the NFL. He ended up with the Cleveland Browns, and
while there it was his desire to become the next Billy Graham, but God had
other plans for him as the Lord sent him into prisons to minister for the cause
of Christ. Bill is a large man and when
he shook my hand, my hand disappeared.
One of the things that he stated came from, I believe a Psalm which says
something like “whatever a man thinks in his heart he will be.” Bill said that there was a time in his life
that all he thought about were girls, and so he stated that he did not want to
turn into a girl. I understand where he
was coming from. John MacArthur writes “Because
of the strong sexual nature of human beings, sexual sins are powerful and can
become perverted in unimaginable ways.
If given free rein, sexual sins lead to complete insensitivity to the
feelings and welfare of others, to horrible brutality, and frequently to murder—as
news stories testify daily.
“That
is why the sins of immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be
named among Christians, as is proper among saints. Those sins cannot in any way be justified,
and they should not in any way be tolerated.
The meaning of saints is ‘holy ones,’ and those who are holy have
nothing to do with that which is unholy.”
I
mentioned the word “but” and as stated it goes back to what Paul was writing
about in verses one and two which was about love, and love has nothing to do
with these actions that he is talking about here in verses 3-4 as he continues
his warnings that are against this perversion of love by then mentioning an
extensive list of related sins that will surely cover every believer at one
time or another. There are many lists
found in the Word of God, both good ones and not so good ones, and this falls
into the not so good ones. Christians
should never engage in sexual sins of any kind, but they should never be guilty
of “filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting” or joking.
We
will begin to break down these words in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to pray that the Lord will keep my
mind clean from any kind of sexual prevision, so that I can serve Him with a
true heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that
the Lord will use humility to keep my mind clean of any sinful practice.
James 1:17 is the verse that goes along
with our quotation from yesterday: “Every
good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of
Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
5/29/2019 9:25 AM
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