“Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed
among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not
for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person
will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an
idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t
be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall
on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the
things these people do.”
Ephesians 5:3-7(NLT)
I wouldn’t classify myself as an avid runner. I would rather be hiking, swimming, or even cleaning toilets. However, I love to
challenge myself, and nothing has challenged me more than training for a
marathon. About five years ago, I
decided to put my body through the rigors of training for such an
endeavor. Early morning runs replaced my
usual tradition of curling up on the couch with a blanket and a hot cup of
coffee. The concept of “cross training”
entered into my vernacular. Pastries and
sweets were replaced with fiber bars and dried fruit. Essentially, every aspect of my life was
subtly rearranged, or even drastically changed, for the purposes of preparing
my body for race day. All except for one
area, one stronghold in my life that I REFUSED to give up ... ice cream.
Now, some might argue that one indulgence,
especially under the circumstances, would be completely acceptable, especially
in moderation. But, if anyone has ever
sat down with a pint of ice cream, only to hear your spoon scrape the bottom of
the cardboard container about 15 minutes later, you understand that moderation
can be an “issue.” For me, I would spend
two hours running, all the while counting the calories I was burning… trying
desperately to figure out what that translated to in ice cream… joyfully
anticipating my reunion with Ben and Jerry at the end of my run. A reunion, that at times, meant sitting down
to enjoy almost TWO pints of ice cream at one setting!
My point in sharing this is to illustrate the
concept of biblical licentiousness, or deliberately sinful behavior. Putting
gluttony aside, the act of eating ice cream, in and of itself, is not a sinful
behavior. However, look at the context
of my eating habits. Instead of using my
running, the burning of those calories, as a way to train and shape my body for
the benefit of competing, I was using it as a license to partake in… to
over-consume… a rather guilty pleasure of mine.
As Christians, we understand that God’s grace is
ours, if we choose to acknowledge it.
It’s a gift that equates to unmerited forgiveness of our sins. However,
some of us distort that gift into a perversion… a license to actively
participate and live in our sin because we are “covered” by His grace. This is biblical licentiousness… and it is
NOT covered by His grace. Beth Moore, a renowned
women's ministry leader, recently said in a video for her James Bible Study
that God’s grace does not cover our disobedience… and she’s correct. When we
choose to live in our sin… when we refuse to repent and turn our back on it… we
are being disobedient. Licentiousness
goes a step beyond that… it’s rationalizing our disobedience. It’s acknowledging our sin, but remaining
steadfast in our disobedience because we wrongfully believe that God’s grace
will take care of it. Pornography,
reality television, salacious romance novels, speaking harshly to our spouses
and children, gossiping, the list is limited only by the number of sins that
exist. The horrible truth of
licentiousness is that it allows you to think you’re free, when you’re solidly
wrapped up in bondage. And the result of this bondage will surely inhibit your
growth as a Christian and your walk with Jesus.
Challenge
Ask God to reveal any area of licentiousness in your
life. Maybe you’re already aware of some
areas in your walk with Jesus that are suffering because of this. Spend time with our Savior and ask Him for
help in these strongholds. The worst
thing we can do is try to solve the problem by ourselves. We need His guidance and His strength to
bring about His resolution for His glory.
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