Wilderness Wonderings

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The Discretion of the Kingdom

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Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4

One of the current trends of social media that really sticks in my craw is the need to announce and dramatize acts of service and “good deeds”. While I am not against the performing of good deeds, because that is what God has called us to do, I find it disturbing because it takes these acts that are purposed for the glory of God and shines the light upon ourselves, thus negating the very power that such deeds are designed to bring forth.

Now I have heard the arguments that these videos are intended to inspire others to perform good deeds. While I understand that intent, the nature of social media is such that the message is often lost spotlight. Viewers start glorifying the one doing the act rather than God Himself. Any person in the world can actually perform good deeds and serve others. But it becomes a question of to what end and for whose glory do these acts exemplify?

Do you perform acts of service in order to ease your own conscience? Do you genuinely serve others in an effort to provide for their needs and point them to the Father as the provider of their need? Do we “sound the trumpet” of our entrance into the sphere of service, or do we quietly serve our fellow man not seeking recognition or praise for ourselves? Does your church make a big deal announcing to the world what service you have done in an effort to draw attention to potential donors and new visitors?

Jesus Himself strongly warned against making such proclamations because it was common practice among the religious leaders of the day to make shallow displays of charity in an effort to gain the approval of men when their hearts were not tuned to the glory of the Father. In fact, He highly discouraged this braggadocios practice due to the fact that it greatly diminishes the impact of these deeds. If you are reporting what you are doing for the Kingdom for the sake of the attention of others, then you will be rewarded with that attention. It’s quite another thing to report on what God is doing in His Kingdom for the sake of drawing attention to Him.

How can you tell the difference between such reporting? It’s really quite simple. Does the focus of your message tend to be more on you, your acts, what you did, or what it cost you? Or does the focus of your message highlight what it cost God to reconcile Himself to us, what He did to provide for others, and what His purposes for His kingdom are? Does the spotlight shine on you or on Him? Do you spend more time talking about yourself than talking about Jesus?

Dr. Henry Blackaby, in his masterful study entitled “Experiencing God”, once made this observation: “Do not ask God to bless your work. Rather, find out where He is working and join Him there, for it is already blessed.” God will never call you to do your thing, but rather He calls us to join Him in His Kingdom work. Our plans and our programs and initiatives are always going to be tainted by our own perspectives, weaknesses, and ambitions. God’s work is always designed for our growth and the advancement of His Kingdom.

More than once, the apostle Paul encouraged the church in their service, but in every case the focus was on what God was doing with His bride, not what the church was doing for Him:

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident in this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:3-6 (emphasis mine)

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10 (emphasis mine)

Keep your eyes on the King and His work. Shine the spotlight on the only one deserving of all praise and glory. He is the only one worthy. Our acts of righteousness are filth when compared to the surpassing greatness of His grace. And His light shines so bright that it will eventually expose us for the filth that we are, in comparison. But it is His grace that makes us clean and whole and only His grace that is worth shining a light upon.

The Love of the Kingdom

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You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-45

Jesus has already mentioned that hatred towards your brother is the equivalent of murder borne in the heart. However, here He revisits hatred and moves from hatred towards someone with whom you are bound to in a covenant relationship to someone that is outside of that intimate relationship. In fact, He says that we ought to not only love our neighbor but to also love those who actively seek to destroy us.

For the fourth time, Jesus shifts the topic of His message to contrast the heart of the Mosaic law to the traditional practice found in non-Scriptural sources. “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” The Kingdom law of the Moses dictated that you shall “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Period. There is no additional commentary beyond this. In fact, Jesus said in another episode “The second [greatest commandment] is [like] this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The first greatest commandment of course is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart (kardias – affection) and with all your soul (psuche – life force) and with all your mind (dianoia – will) and with all your strength (ischus – physical strength).” (Mark 12:31, Greek commentary mine)

In fact, the transitional phrase “The second is [like] this…” is can literally be translated as “In the same manner, the second greatest commandment is…”. In other words, just as we are commanded to love God with every bit of the essence of our being – our emotional affections, our life, our will, and our physical capacity – we are commanded to love other people. Jesus makes no distinction here between friend or foe. He makes no distinction between brother, sister, or stranger. Put simply, the entirely of the law is summed up in four words “Love God. Love people.” Anything less than these two simple statements is sin.

Now in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does address the nature of two different types of relationship. He addressed the nature of hatred towards a brother / sister – someone with whom you have an intimate relationship, but harbor resentment and unwarranted anger towards. Then He takes it a step further and commands that we love our enemies – those who actively seek to harm and abuse us. Those who seek to take advantage of us. Those who seek to spitefully use us for their own selfish gain.

Furthermore, He contrasts the difference between those who would follow His teaching with those who are not His followers: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” The tax collectors of Jesus’ day were despised as traitors because they were often Jewish citizens who submitted to the authority of Rome and were often known to take advantage of the taxpayers. It’s easy to greet those that are you friends, but far more difficult to greet those that are your enemies and make them feel at home. Even the cultural outsiders love those that love them. Emotional love is easy, but love that transcends emotion often requires a difficult act of the will.

A personal spiritual hero of mine is Corrie ten Boom. She and her family were arrested by the Nazis during World War II for hiding Jews in a secret room carved into the wall of her own bedroom. She and her sister Betsy were sent to Ravensbruck prison camp – or more literally, a death camp. Together, they would endure the hardship of the harsh treatment of their Nazi captors and even the jeering and mocking of their fellow prisoners. More importantly, in spite of their circumstances, and much to Corrie’s own consternation, Betsy would choose to love her fellow captors in spite of their mockery. The last thing that Betsy would tell Corrie before she would succumb to typhus were two simple words: “Don’t hate.”

Corrie would take these words and they would go on to transform her life. In the midst of her mourning, she would encourage her fellow prisoners until one night her named was called out. Shaking in fear, believing that she was on her way to die, she bravely declared the gospel of love to her fellow captors. She gave her smuggled Bible to one of her fellow prisoners and encouraged her to cling to it. Within a few hours, Corrie was on her way home – released due to an apparent “clerical error”, when all women prisoners her age were sent to the gas chambers just 2 weeks later.

Until her dying day, Corrie would travel the world teaching about the grace and love of God and teaching us all to love our enemies. She even had an opportunity to put this teaching into practice as one of her tormentors approached her after one of her teachings and declared their newfound faith and begged her forgiveness for her treatment in Ravensbruck. Corrie, pushing back the tears and anger and bitterness, extended her hand in grace and love towards this former prison guard, recognizing that they themselves had been a prisoner of their own guilt and released them to the freedom of grace.

Corrie’s mission in life was to deliver a very simple message, delivered to her by her dying sister Betsy: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love isn’t deeper still.”1 No matter how dark your world may be, or how strong your enemy comes against you, God is capable of giving you the strength to love them and set them free from the chains that bind their hearts. Grace transforms the heart in ways that set us apart from the world. Grace makes all the difference.

  1. Corrie ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill, John Sherrill (1971). The Hiding Place. Guideposts Associates. ISBN 0-912376-01-5.

The Grace of the Kingdom

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You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42
From Les Misérables, (c) 2012 Universal Pictures

There are endless stories of the transformative power of grace, but do we really and truly understand what grace is and how powerful it really is to transform a life? I’ve often stated that grace can be defined as “giving a gift which is undeserved.” This is to contrast the definition of mercy as “not giving the punishment that which is deserved.” In both cases, there is inherently the implication that what we deserve is far worse than what we receive. The offense or sin is not excused; in fact, it must be acknowledged in order for grace or mercy to have its maximum impact. However, we must understand that the most important aspect of grace and mercy is not that who receives it, but who gives it. In both cases, it is a deliberate act of the will to love in spite of the the circumstances that warrant anger and judgement.

When Jesus quotes a common saying of the day “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” he’s is not quoting the Old Testament law. He’s actually quoting a common tradition that originated with the Code of Hammurabi, who was king of Babylon from 1792-1750 BC. It was a law among the Babylonians over 1200 years before the Babylonian exile, and even predated the Exodus by another approximately 500 years. However, it was the basis of a system of justice that the Jewish law implemented in terms of the principle of letting the severity of the punishment equal the severity of the crime. It is a principle we know today as equal restitution. It was a practice of law arbitrated by the courts, but had devolved into a form of vigilantism, where victims or their families would take it upon themselves to execute judgement outside of the courts. Herein lies the danger of allowing law that was not dictated by God to infiltrate a society, because then we see a shift from the righteousness of the Kingdom to the righteousness of the individual who has been offended.

What Jesus is talking about here is to resist the temptation to take matters into your own hand and act out of a spirit of vengeance and self-righteousness. Furthermore, He takes it a step further and commands that we actively give grace to our attacker. If an evil person slaps you, our natural inclination is to strike back. If a vindictive person wants to take your clothes off your back in court, our natural inclination is resist and not give them anything. If they force you to go a mile, go further than what is demanded. And if anyone wants to borrow from you, don’t reject them. In all of these cases, the implication is that the first person listed is undeserving of the second person’s commanded response. And in each case, Jesus commands us to act individually with a heart of grace.

Let’s be clear here. Jesus is not speaking to the religious authorities of the day, nor is He speaking to the state authority. He is not dismissing the importance of societal order, nor is He suggesting that criminals should go unpunished in society. What He is saying, however, is to not be consumed by hatred and anger and react to injustice with emotional reactivity. Furthermore, He does go further and says we ought to as individuals extend grace to our offender in the hopes that it would change their hearts.

In recent months, we have seen a rise in mob justice in response to injustice. In fact, there have been multiple occasions over the last several decades of rioting and looting in response to societal injustice. While I completely understand the natural sentiment of those that choose to react in this manner, this is the antithesis of what Jesus is calling us to be as the Church. It is what makes the Bride of Christ different from the society in which we live. It is message that all too often, many Church leaders choose to ignore in favor of stoking the flames of violence against the state as a form of “civil disobedience” in spite of the fact that it is the very opposite of what Jesus commands us to do and who He commands us to be.

One of my favorite stories of all time was the story of a criminal vagabond who spent an inordinate amount of time in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to appease his hunger. After 20 years in prison, he is branded a criminal for life and must carry papers that bear the mark of his crime for the remainder of his life, thus effectively extending his imprisonment for the remainder of his days. This act of un-grace hardens the heart of this man and he spends his life scrounging from town to town. At one point, he even steals a coin from a child. See how far un-grace can twist the heart of a man.

Eventually, the criminal is found sleeping in an alley by a servant who offers him shelter with in the home of a priest. The priest offers him a warm meal and a bed to sleep in for the evening. He even offers him a place to stay for a time, and work to pay his own way. The criminal scoffs and in the middle of the night, he steals all of the silverware from a cupboard and as he is making his way out of the home, the priest happens upon him and the criminal assaults him.

The next day, the priest answers a knock on his door and it is the police with the criminal as he had been caught. Still nursing the wound on his head, he listened as the police officer recounts how the criminal had said the priest had gifted him the silverware. The priest, stands looks the criminal dead in the eye, and says “Yes, I did. But you forgot the most valuable pieces – these two silver candlesticks.” The criminal stands astonished, knowing that he doesn’t deserve this act of grace that the priest has bestowed upon him. Before the police leave, the priest looks at the criminal and utters these words:

“Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man. Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!”

Of course, from here you must know the story of how Jean Valjean would go on to become an honest man, building a business in a small town, caring for a local prostitute named Fatine, and adopting her child Cosette. Throughout the remainder of the novel, Valjean is hounded by the specter of his past. Inspector Javert – representing a spirit of unforgiveness and the effects that it has on Valjean’s life is contrasted with the life changing grace of the Bishop Myriel. In the end of the novel, as Jean Valjean lays dying, the candlesticks are lit and rest upon the table at his bedside. He dies beneath their glow, basking in the sweet illumination of grace that has come to change his life and gifted him the blessings of fatherhood and ultimately peace.

Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, is widely considered one of the greatest masterpieces, if not the definitive masterpiece of French literature. It is the story of the transformative power of grace to triumph over the hardened heart of un-grace. It is a timeless story that still resonates today through history and art. Most importantly it is a story that speaks to heart of the gospel. In Victor Hugo’s own words:

“The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details … a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.”

Alexander Welsh, “Opening and Closing Les Misérables”, in Harold Bloom, ed., Victor Hugo: Modern Critical Views (NY: Chelsea House, 1988), 155; Vol. 5, Book 1, Chapter 20

The Oath of the Kingdom

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Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

Matthew 5:33-37

I’ve heard it said through the years that if you have to preface a statement with “I promise…” or “To be honest…”, odds are you aren’t. We use phrases like “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “On my ancestor’s grave…”. It used to be that a person’s word was their bond, that you could take a person at their word without hesitation, because a person’s reputation rests upon their ability to keep their word without the necessity of extra persuasiveness. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case so much in the world today.

In Old Testament times, a covenant was often sealed with an oath and a sacrifice. The oath or pledge was a declaration of the responsibilities of both parties in the covenant. The sacrificial element of the covenant was representative of the punishment that would befall whoever would break the covenant. In today’s vernacular, this is similar to legal covenants in which there is a financial penalty imparted to the person that breaks the covenant.

To break a vow was the equivalent to breaking the commandment to not lie or bear false witness. To swear an oath by Heaven or by Earth is to suppose that Heaven or Earth are yours to sacrifice in the event of the breaking of the oath. In reality, Heaven is the throne of God and Earth is His footstool. While these are metaphors, the meaning to the listeners of the Sermon on the Mount and to Matthew’s audience is clear – you cannot offer up sacrifice that is acceptable that doesn’t belong to you – that would have no impact upon you directly if you break the covenant. Put simply, Jesus is telling us when you say you are going to do something, do it without the necessity of extra reassurances. Let your actions fulfill your words.

We can take this a step further when you consider the full contextual meaning of Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” In light of this context as the third of the commandments of God, this statement is in fact a declaration of the seriousness of the covenant that God was making with His people. God had just declared in verses 5-6 that He will not only visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him, but He will show mercy and kindness to those who love Him and keep His commandments.

To seal this covenant as part of the tribe of Israel was to “take the name of the Lord your God.” To take His name in vain was an attempt to have all the benefits of the covenant (mercy) without the responsibilities of the covenant (obedience). The term “vain” is best described as “empty” or “meaningless”. This is the root word for “vanity” that is used throughout Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes to describe the emptiness and worthlessness of life under the sun, compared to the riches and glory of God Himself. The second part of Exodus 20:7 makes it clear that God will not withhold the covenant prescribed punishment from those who do not keep their word to the covenant – a covenant that demands repentance.

Now, let’s be very clear here. Eternal salvation is granted by the grace and favor of God Himself, not a result of our obedience itself. This is clearly explained by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he writes “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” But Paul doesn’t discount the value of obedience as he continues in verse 10 with “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Our works of obedience are still important and are a demonstration of our repentance that is inspired by God’s grace. When we come to Christ and become a “fisher of men”, we make a public declaration of this covenant through the sacrament of baptism. If you have not truly surrendered your heart to the covenant relationship with God through Jesus, then your baptism was nothing more than you getting wet. Baptism does nothing mystical, it is simply a symbolic gesture of taking of the oath to follow Christ in your daily life.

If you say that you are a Christ follower, then let your life show it. Live the dictates of God’s Word. Learn the responsibilities of the covenant that you have sworn to uphold. You can trust God at His word because He has proven Himself true time and again throughout history. If you truly examine yourself, can you honestly say that God can take you at your word?

The Covenant of the Kingdom

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It was also said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32
My son, Michael and his bride, Amber.

Marriage is not a legal contract. Marriage – Biblical marriage – is a covenant between one man, one woman, and one Triune God. Marriage, from the beginning, was always designed to be a picture of the intimate relationship that God desires between His creation and Himself. In the beginning, God took a rib from Adam, and created Eve. Adam’s response was “This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” These words iterated the unity and covenant nature of marriage.

Several years ago, I conducted a demonstration before a church audience that illustrated this covenant unity. I stood before the congregation, and I poured super glue onto my hands and then placed them together. This was to demonstrate the joining together of man and wife in the bonds of matrimony and the intimacy that unity is designed to inspire.

However, I also explained that because my hands were now fused together, if I were to rip them apart, pieces of the palms of my hands and fingers would end up ripping off and remain stuck to one another. Yes, the hands would be separated, but the separation would be intensely painful and those torn pieces would forever be stuck on each hand. That is unless I used some acetone or fingernail polish remover to dissolve the glue.

This is the picture of what happens spiritually and emotionally to two people who go through a divorce. Divorce is ugly. It’s messy. It’s painful. And for years, people who have gone through divorce will carry the baggage of that torn relationship with them. It will impact future relationships in ways that are difficult to predict. And as far as God is concerned, divorce is a sin. Jesus speaks to the issue of divorce more than once in His ministry, and each time He does, He speaks to the sobering reality of that divorce is sin.

“For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” (Malachi 2:16)

God Himself through the prophet Malachi equates divorce with an act of violence against one another. In Jewish society, however, only men had the right to pursue divorce. The original intent was that there would not be any divorce within a marriage covenant, but under the law of Moses, it was permitted, but only in cases of adultery. Over time, the interpretation was that in the case of adultery of the wife. Eventually it evolved to the point that men could divorce their wives for any reason they chose in their hearts, but to get around the law, they would accuse the wife of adultery. The problem is that for the charges to stick, there had to be at least two witnesses to the act of adultery, but this aspect of the law was often overlooked (as demonstrated in John 8:1-11 with the woman who was “caught in the act of adultery.”)

Yes, divorce is a sin, but divorce is not an unforgivable sin. While it is the hope of God that divorced couples would reconcile, that is not always possible. Paul speaks to this in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

1 Corinthians 7:12-16

I am blessed to say that my wife and I have been married for over 22 years now. It has not been easy. There have been times that both of us had wanted to call it quits. But there have been times of tremendous grace that has sustained us and kept us together, mutually submitting to one another. It doesn’t mean that the feelings of love are always there. Marriage is more than a feeling, it’s the willful act of choosing to honor one another, even when we are at odds with one another.

I use the term “covenant” to reference marriage because it’s something much deeper than a mere legal contract. A covenant in Scripture, within the Old Testament, is initiated between two parties and then is sealed with a blood oath or sacrifice. The blood oath or sacrifice is intended to be offered by both parties as a statement that essentially means “May it be done to me what is done here if I should ever break this covenant.” And the breaking of a covenant is serious business. In many cases, the breaking of a covenant would even lead to war. In Biblical marriage, this same principle applies. A bride and groom come together and they make covenant vows to one another, forsaking all others, until death do they part.

If you have been through a divorce, there is grace enough for you at the foot of the cross of Jesus. In the case of the woman “caught in the act of adultery” that I mentioned earlier, Jesus did not condemn her, but He did not excuse her either as He encouraged her to “go and sin no more.” The blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse you of the stain of divorce. The grace of Christ is sufficient to make you new again.

If you have not experienced divorce, I urge you do whatever is necessary to avoid it. While divorce is indeed forgivable, the consequences of divorce are still far reaching and will linger with you for years to come. It will surface in ways you can’t possibly predict. It will magnify your insecurities and even embolden your arrogance if not dealt with. Repentance doesn’t necessarily mean reconciliation, although I can recall many different cases of couples who have divorced and then remarried again after reconciling, and with much counseling.

If you have not yet been married, I encourage you to not be frightened by the statistics. Nearly 60% of all marriages today end in divorce. The statistics within the church – sadly – aren’t much better. But you do not have to be another statistic. Go into your relationship with your eyes opened. Honor one another and treat each other with the respect and dignity that is becoming of God’s creation. And when you find your “one”, I would encourage you to go through pre-marital counseling to make sure you are both aware of what awaits you beyond the wedding altar. A wedding is just a ritual ceremony, but it is a sacred ceremony that demonstrates the unity of man and woman before God. But a wedding is not a marriage. A wedding can take months to prepare and execute, a marriage takes a lifetime to get it right.

The Passion of the Kingdom

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You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:27-30

Our basest human desire is the desire for love. It is the desire for relationship and attention from someone who genuinely cares about our best interests. This is followed very closely by our desire to love another. But all too often, when we don’t feel love, we default to lust. And this leads to more problems than you can possibly imagine in the world.

At its root, lust can be defined as the selfish objectification of someone or something that is not rightfully yours. And this extends beyond mere sexual lust, but into the realm of covetousness as well. A lust for power. A lust for sex. The lust for life. These are mere examples, but they demonstrate the animalistic, objectifying nature of our default human existence as a result of sin. And in our society, we excuse this sin more than any other because it appeals to our basic human appetite for affection and attention.

Lust is not simply restricted to the male gender; women are susceptible to lust as well. For men, however, it is more visual because God designed men to be hunters. Women, on the other hand, tend more towards emotion and the need for security. Now before you get all offended and accuse me of chauvinism and not being “woke” enough, I’m not saying the women are weaker than men and require the security of a man in order to have value. Men and women are both uniquely created and designed by God to complement one another, not to compete with one another. As such, because we are created by God in His image, we ought also to treat one another and look upon one another as such, rather than see each other for what we can gain from them.

The primary difference between love and lust is this: lust seeks to take another unto oneself, whereas love seeks to give of oneself to another. In the English language we have just one word for love, and it takes on a variety of meanings depending on the context. In Greek, there are four different words for love, each with its own contextual meaning: 1. storge – familial love, 2. phileo – brotherly love or friendship, 3. eros – erotic love, 4. agape – sacrificial love.

For a long time, our society and even the church has treated eros as an evil kind of live, or at the very least, a lesser form of love. God designed sexual attraction for the purpose of recreation between a husband and wife and procreation as a natural product of that love. The sexual act is designed to be a picture of the intimacy of the spiritual unity that God desires with His creation. However, our sinful nature has perverted this gift and we have allowed it to destroy humankind on so many levels.

In the United States alone, the sexual exploitation that defines the pornography industry generates over $12 billion annually – more than the combined annual revenues of the big three broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC. That’s an average of over $3000 every minute. It is estimated that between 20 and 40 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery, with more than 80% of those in sex trafficking, which profits roughly $150 billion a year, with nearly $100 billion of it from commercial sexual exploitation. The average age of a person entering the sex trade in the United States is between 12 and 14 years old. Globally and estimated 71% of all enslaved people are women and girls, with 98% of them in the sex trade. And if you think that men are the only perpetrators of sexual exploitation and partaking of this trade, you’d be sorely mistaken; it is estimated that closer to 25% of such perpetrators are women, and that number is climbing annually. (See footnotes for citations.)

So if you think lust is a “victimless” sin or at worst “self-harm,” you’d be very wrong. Lust belittles the personhood of one of God’s image bearers to the level of an object to be desired, rather than sees them as a person to be loved. It reduces men and women to the level of nothing more than a product of animalistic passions rather than people of inherent, created value.

And God’s passion is for the benefit of His creation. His passion is to see you as a person of worth. His desire is for us all to see one another as He sees us. And He wants us to be passionately aware of our value to Him. When we start to see one another as a person of worth that God created with value, that changes the way we treat them. If we want to see an end to human trafficking, we must find a way to change the heart of traffickers and the hearts of buyers. There must be a transformation of the heart so that we do not see human sexuality as a commodity to be traded on the market, but rather as a gift to be given within the confines of Biblical marriage between a man and a woman, as God designed us to complement one another.

As believers, we must be careful of what we expose ourselves to in our entertainment. I need to be careful of some of the more “innocuous” programs that I expose myself to as well. The books that I read. The music that I listen to. The art that I purvey. Are these forms of entertainment glorifying God? Am I allowing the window of my soul to be open so far to allow the pollution of the world to corrupt my heart? Are you? I urge you, please be discerning of what you willingly allow yourself to partake in. If the lyrics of the song objectifies another person, turn it off. If the books you read, celebrate the immorality of our world, put it away. If the art you peruse treats displays another human being in a manner that is unfitting of their God given value, walk away. If the program you are watching objectifies men or women, turn it off.

I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying we are all going to be immediately aware that what we are viewing is not what we should be. But if we start to see our fellow humans, man and woman alike, the way that God sees us – as people of value worthy of love, respect, and dignity, then it will start to come more naturally. I’m not perfect, but I’m getting better. And I still have a long way to go. And by the grace of God, I will get there.

Statistical Footnotes:
https://enough.org/stats_porn_industry_archives
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-human-trafficking

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