Blowout?

 January 7, 2024

“Those of you who have had babies will know what I’m talking about.” So began the pastor this morning. “They fill their diapers with disgusting stuff. We expect that, so we clean up the mess and change the diaper. But every so often, you have a diaper blowout. It’s the same stuff, but it’s escaped the boundaries designed to contain it, and makes a huge mess. That’s the difference between lust and adultery.” 

Pastor was preaching on Matthew 5:27-30. He said a lot more about these verses, but this illustration nailed the connection between our thoughts and actions. Jesus didn’t say these things to be popular, nor did he say them because he was trying to spoil our fun or squelch our imaginations. He said these things because he was trying to protect us from setting out on a path that leads to our destruction, a life blowout. Jesus goes against everything our culture is telling us about our sexuality. Christianity doesn’t fit with the modern definition of self, which is that we are primarily sexual, and can decide for ourselves what that means and how it is to be expressed. Many Christians see God’s commandments as bad, as limiting, but Jesus’ grace is good, forgetting that the same God who gave us the Ten Commandments gave us Jesus. If we make peace with what God calls sin, we are making war with God. 

In these verses, Jesus speaks of the fire of hell. Pastor explained that hell isn’t God’s choice for us; he doesn’t send anyone there. Like heaven, hell is the direction people choose projected into eternity, which gives great significance to the choices we make here and now. 

One last thing the pastor said was that Jesus doesn’t expect perfect obedience, but he does expect true obedience. Perfection belongs to Jesus alone, and it is his sinless life and his death on the cross in our place that secures our salvation. Our lives are the witness of the choices we make, for life, or for death. The rest of the day, I’m thinking about the choices I am making…in my thinking as well as in my doing. I choose life, in my thoughts as well as my actions, because I want the choice I make today to be projected into eternity in the presence of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.