Tag: immoral

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Enjoying the Right Side of Life

krisshetter

I’ve mentioned in past series that I wasn’t raised in a Christian home.  My father is, to this day, an atheist and my mom is well, just sort of lost.  In my younger years, I would probably tell you I believed in God but I didn’t really know what that meant.  God was the creator and He was still hanging around, I supposed.  If I had died back then I would’ve had the same judgement as my father, I believe.  Because just like my atheist father, I didn’t have God as the centerstone of my life.

I hate to say it but I talk to a lot of folks who seem to be in this same boat.  They might even call themselves “Christian.”  But dig a bit deeper and they don’t believe the basic tenets of the faith.  Such as Jesus being full man and fully God who died to cover our sins and make us righteous before God.  Or that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.  Without these basic truths to help us navigate through life what’s to keep them from wandering off the path?  To avoid a life of fool-hardy behavior and thinking?  To be led by foolish teachers and pastors?

“Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left.” Ecclesiastes 10:1-2

Back in the ancient world of King Solomon, the right hand represented the place of honor and power.  The left hand (sorry lefties) represented weakness and even rejection.  In this introduction to chapter 10 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon shines the light on our propensity to lean a bit too far into our personal temptations and sins.  We give way to the left-hand side of life.  Those sinful “flies in the ointment” create a life that looks a lot like one without knowing or trusting in God.

Blessed is the man who has the God of Jacob for his Helper; he need not fear either want or pain, or death. The more you can realize this, the happier will you become; and the only means for so doing is to hold frequent communion with God in prayer. Get alone with Jesus, and He will comfort your hearts, and restore your weary souls.”

Charles Spurgeon

No only had I not put God as a cornerstone of my life I put so many other things and people there in His place.  In Solomon’s words I put “fools in a high position” (Ecc 10:6).  And wisdom?  Let’s just say it wasn’t a top priority for me.  

“The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.” Ecclesiastes 10:15

What a sad state to be in, as so many are today.  Lost amongst well-travelled roads.  Thinking they know the way to enjoying life to the fullest only to find themselves each morning back on the wrong side of a meaningful life.

I’ll make a confession to you.  I started having sex when I was about 16 years old – sad to say that may be a bit old nowadays.  By the time I met my future husband at age 22, I had been with more than 15 different men.  The first few sexual relationships were ones I sometimes, still today, thank God that He didn’t allow me to become pregnant because I was also unprotected.  In the midst of my sexual promiscuity years something inside me knew what I was doing was wrong but it didn’t stop me.  I plowed ahead in my left hand life.

Later, I even realized my behavior was borne out of a need to seek love and acceptance.  Of which, I usually received the exact opposite.  Folly, folly, folly.  And more wandering over the same roads.

My centerstones, or my go-to experts, were like-minded travellers.  Women’s liberation bullhorns, pro-abortionists, people who believed we deserved to do what we please, and others who scoffed at the religious right and their limiting “rules for life.”  I was going to do what I wanted, with whom I wanted, and was going to be happy and successful.  

Until I wasn’t.

As a person searching for a meaningful life, that younger me was bombarded by foolish rulers.  College teachers who were all about living the life that was “true to yourself.”  The people I worked with had no place for God and encouraged debauchery and folly.  Even the pastor of the church, where I spent about 10 years as  a new Christian, never talked about sin.

Now, as a Christ-centered Christian, it angers me that there are pastors who fall into these same categories.  Their own lives and their teaching don’t reflect God as their centerstone.  They are ok with abortion – murdering the innocent.  They are just fine with people having sex outside of marriage.  With living immoral lives as long we know we are “loved” and “don’t judge.”  They’re apparently reading from a different Bible than the one I have.  

They are not leaders of the right handed side of life.  When we look at who we’ve put as our centerstones we have to ask: are they simply leading us back around in circles to all our old sinful paths?

Click here for Enjoying the Right Side of Life Part Two as we discover the path straight to love and joy.

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The Purposeful Path

krisshetter 
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God.  3 John 11

When I was first researching the word “resolute” I came across the tiny village of Resolute in the province of Nunavut, Canada. Back in 1999, Canada created a new province from the original Northern Territories specifically for its native citizens.  And Resolute was one of the northernmost inhabited spots in that province.  Its most famous resident, who put Resolute firmly on the map, was Joseph Idlout, the subject of two documentaries, Land of the Long Day in 1952 and Between Two Worlds in 1990. He was for a time one of the most well-known Inuit and was shown on the back of the Canadian two-dollar bill.

I decided to watch the Land of the Long Day and was treated to some childhood memories of old fashioned documentary film styles.  This little film about a tiny family eking out an existence in the Arctic held my fascination for over an hour.  You see, Mr. Idlout purposefully chose to keep his family close to the old ways of living.  They hunted and gathered what was available each season, storing up for long, dark winters.  They used every available resource to keep their family alive and thriving.   Everyone in the family had a job to do for their survival.  And to maintain this way of life he petitioned the Canadian government to move to a tiny weather station called Resolute and create a home for themselves.  Rather than uprooting their lives and becoming more “modern” they chose to remain true to their culture.  And they flourished. 

It’s perfect that this “most famous Inuit” moved to a tiny town called Resolute because that’s what it took to make his decision for his family.  And I wonder, how many decisions us modern parents make are based on what God really wants for our children? 

As a grandma and parent of two, now grown women, I can easily recall times when I had to make decisions that would set my children and family apart from others.  So many times, when I would go against the norm, others would say to me,  “I hadn’t even thought about that.”  In other words, they were just going along to get along without consulting any moral code whatsoever.

“When you are being taught how to use any machine, the instructor keeps on saying, “No, don’t do it like that,’ because, of course, there are all sorts of things that look all right and seem to you the natural way of treating the machine, but do not really work.”  

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

It seems so natural to automatically sign a permission slip for your child to go on the 4th grade overnight trip that every single 4th grader in your school has gone on for the last 10 years.  There’ll be chaperones and it’s just down the street.  Everyone is going.  And then you find out boys and girls will be sleeping together in small rooms.  Chaperones include moms and dads – many whom you don’t know.  So your daughter will be spending the night with boys and a dad.   No problem, everyone is going.  Everyone has gone.  No one has ever brought up any issue.   So what’s your problem?  Are you going to set your child apart?  Will you be resolute in what you know is the God-directed answer?

In the verse today it says “imitate evil.”  And I think so often when we read things like that in the Bible we give ourselves little passes to make immoral decisions, especially when we feel it might harm our kids’ social lives.  I mean, it’s not “evil” to let our kids go on a boy/girl sleepover.  It’s not “evil” to allow our daughters to wear the latest fashions that might be a bit revealing.  It’s not  “evil” to let our sons play violent video games.  It’s also not “evil” for all the parents at the birthday party to get drunk. Right?

In a world where parents are pressured into allowing their elementary and middle school children to start dangerous hormones and go under the knife in order to try and change their gender, letting your kids watch R rated movies and TV shows seems tame in comparison. And we let it slide.

“Perfect behavior may be as unattainable as perfect gear changing when we drive; but it is a necessary ideal. Prescribed for all men by the very nature of the human machine just as perfect gear changing is an ideal prescribed for all drivers by the very nature of cars…it would be idiotic not to try; for every mistake is going to cause you trouble later on.”  

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

It’s interesting that this quote from Mere Christianity involves using a stick shift in a car.  For just about every one of us that process has changed to be an automatic.  But the question I ask is your automatic response to making decisions for yourself and your family set to the world of the flesh or the Word of God? 

For Joseph Idlout, he drew on his people’s hundreds if not thousands of years of history and made the conscious decision to not go the modern route of the world.  And I have to say they seemed to live a pretty content and peaceful life.  Not an easy one by any means.  The harsh Arctic conditions probably led many to scoff at their decision.  They might even have been called any manner of names from savages to crazy to ignorant.  But his children didn’t grow up with drug addictions, suicidal tendencies, endless debt, and more that our world offers.

We can’t all put our families on an island away from the world’s influences.  But we can stop pretending things aren’t “evil” when they go against what God wants of us.  We must be resolute and purposeful in following God’s will for our families.  To be His humble servants, to know His Word inside and out so that it becomes automatic, and to live like the chosen people we are.  Our children’s lives depend on it.