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Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: She
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Gen:2:23 God did such a "good" job when he made woman out of man. Not intending the fall, hoping that man and woman would freely stay in covenant communion with Him, God made such a strong bond between the two that throughout scripture man has broken covenant with Him over woman and has suffered greatly because of it. Nor has the situation changed today. The church still suffers from not recognizing the power of the problem or its remedy. To identify the scope of the problem, let us first look at Samson: And it came to pass when she (Delilah) pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death: That he told her all his heart… Judges 16:16-17 If the story of Samson and Delilah has any meaning at all, then the meaning is this: given the right situation, the opposite sex can illicit from the other any response that he or she wants. Not God, or self-preservation, or patriotism can deter getting the desired response when there is a strong sexual attraction. A relentless attack and pursuit is lethal. And so it was with Samson. And so it can be with any of us as well. Look at David: And it came to pass in an evening tide, that David arose from his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself (Bathsheba) and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 2Sam.7:1-2 David whose heart was perfect toward God, sees a woman, sleeps with her, she conceives, and he has her husband Uriah killed. Because of his attraction for the woman, he both commits adultery and murder notwithstanding his long communion with God. If David can do such a thing, any person can. Or Solomon: For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David… And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. 1Kings11:4-11 David committed adultery and murder, but Solomon because of woman, turned to other gods and committed idolatry which God considered even worse than David’s sin. No wonder in Proverbs we read: For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Prov.6:26-27 The situation for a man and woman because of the fall is stark. Over the centuries the church has reeled over sexual improprieties and we are not today any less susceptible. How does St. Paul deal with the issue? What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Fe ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. ....for it is better to marry than to burn. 1Cor.6:19-20.7:1-2,9 The first thing to realize for St. Paul is that when you are filled with the Holy Spirit your body and spirit become God's and ye are not your own. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that temple is for worship. Your body is holy because God is holy. You are to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service (Rom.12:1-2) Our covenant relationship with God is our primary relationship and that marriage is allowed because most people can not resist the male-female covenant that God created before the fall. But even with marriage, fidelity is iffy at best. Lust is very strong. To overcome lust, we must walk in the Spirit (Gal.5:16), we must set our affections on things above and not on things on earth (Col.3:1-2), "and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Rom.8:10). It is a conscious decision always, not sometimes. We must keep the flesh mortified or it will rise up and draw us to sin. We must keep our eyes fixed on what is eternal not temporal (2Cor.4:18) and that is a constant battle. Awareness is the first thing. We must know where any man has fallen; any man is capable of falling. Secondly, we must accept the fact that this is the human condition and not something only other people can do. Thirdly, we must act from the Spirit and only from that source and not from the flesh. We must keep ourselves from the occasion of sin and temptation as best we can and be obedient to God and His word. Finally, it is something for prayerful consideration and we must keep the truth ever before our eyes (John 17:17) "Consecrate thyself to the truth, thy word is truth." Amen |