Today marks the second day of a new year, 2013, and this is the first post of that new year. 2012 was a crazy year for a lot of us, and 2013 stands to hold a lot of unexpected adventures, heartaches, and blessings. This year, this blog is going to get real, transparent, in your face at time. Starting today...
I celebrated the end of a year, and the beginning of another with my small group. I then spent the first day of the new year, laying in bed. I had to return to the office today, so I decided to spend yesterday doing one of my favorite things... sleeping/relaxing. I thought maybe I would keep my mind shut down for the day, just revel in my last day of vacation. God had other plans... Around 5:00 pm yesterday I got a text asking for prayer... prayer for a brother struggling with lust. As I started to respond with some kind of encouragement, God told me it was time to start the year with transparency. So I responded with "Absolutely brother-- me too... So prayers are needed for me as well." There it was... and there it is. I struggle with lust. That's a lot harder to admit on a blog than it was in a text message. However, as the day went on, I couldn't stop thinking about how wicked my sin is. I wrestled with it for the rest of the evening. As I laid down to end my day around 11:00 pm last night, I was reading through the I Am Second book, and I felt God pulling at my heart strings. As I began to pray, and contemplate my sin and struggle with lust... some realizations came into focus through a second conversation with my brother.
1. Sometimes we fight and fight, and still lose the battle. Until we have allowed Christ to have full dominion over our hearts, we can't fully allow Him to fight for us.
2. The Father will not reveal the woman I am called to marry to me, until I can face my sin and rid myself of it. Lust is holding me back from pursuing the right woman, my selfish desires are not worth God's plan for my life.
3. When I lust after a woman, I am not only dishonoring her, a princess in the Kingdom of God, but also dishonoring the King of Kings, and the man, my brother, that God has created perfectly for her, the man she is called to marry.
4. I'm not only committing a sin against God and myself, but against my brother and sister-- I am objectifying my sister and showing total disregard for the heart of my brother.
5. Every time I lust, I am committing adultery. God knows my wife, He is preparing her for me and me for her. Every time I sin I am putting my own selfish desire before the needs of my future wife.
That's the reality of lust. It's a wicked, vile, self-destructive sin. It's something I struggle with daily, and it's a very real struggle for a lot of men I know. You may be wondering why this is what my first post of the year is about... well... it's because it's a problem, that needs to be resolved. If there's one thing I learned in 2012 it is that in order to overcome struggle and sin, you have to be honest with God, yourself, and others. In order to overcome lust, I need to be held accountable. If it hadn't been for my brother texting me yesterday, I would have lost my battle with lust. As brothers we are called to stand and fight, not back to back in hopes to hide or disguise our battle from each other, but side by side so as to face and confront them with the help of others. If we stand united, and lock arms on the front lines of the Army of God, we can obliterate the lust from our hearts. Men, let's rise up, let's tackle this sin the way the guy from SC stuck it to Michigan yesterday (look it up if you didn't see that hit!). Let's protect our sisters, our future wives, and our selves by being honest and real with each other. Let's stop hiding the struggles we face, and face them with the help of our friends and family. Let's lay down our lust at the foot of the Cross, and allow God to heal us. As Iron sharpens Iron....
Grace and Peace,
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