What God Says About Sex And Holiness
Anonymous asked:
Hey, I just wondered if you could give me advice/help with something. … I am feeling very distant from God and I’m really struggling with sexual immorality & ‘personal holiness’. I just wondered if you could give me any passages in the bible that i can read or anything that could potentially help! :/ Thanks :)
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There are tons and tons of passages about spiritual transformation and guarding your heart and fighting sexual immorality, so I’ll give you some of the more practical and personal verses that you can apply.
Please remember that true change is always motivated by the Good News. No one can follow the imperatives of God apart from getting totally exploded by the cross of Christ and what he did. When we obey God, we’re not merely following a rule-maker but also pleasing the heart of a perfectly good father. So when you break His commands, you’re also hurting the heart of a graciously good dad.
As you pray for change, take your eyes off you and focus on Him. I know that’s some good old-fashioned church advice, but a morbid introspection on your own struggles will only have you circling the drain. A full face-to-face encounter with Christ will have you picking up your teeth from the tile — in a good way. We’re not merely running from sin, but running towards someone greater. No one can identify themselves by what they’re not, but who they now are.
And rely on the Holy Spirit. The church doesn’t mention this enough. If you believe the Gospel, then God’s Spirit lives in you. I know this can sound mystical or strange, but remember that God literally has made you His house, and He will convict you with new desires to change. The Bible doesn’t explain 100% how this works, but I don’t think it needs to: you’ve felt those sober moments after prayer and conviction when it’s like a light went on.
Be still to listen for His voice. Ask, What would You have me do in this exact moment right now? Making a practice of that gets easier with time. One author calls it Dependent Responsibility, because we depend on God for everything but it’s also our responsibility to choose Him. So choose Him.
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Colossians 3:1-2 — 1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 — 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Psalm 139:23-24 — 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Romans 12:2 — Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 John 2:15-17 — 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Ephesians 6:10-18 — The Armor of God
Romans 6-8 — Three Chapters on Change
Psalm 51 — David’s prayer after he was exposed as an adulterer and murderer
Psalm 119 — The longest chapter in the Bible, but worth it
Psalm 19 — A great prayer of reflection
