Sin is easy to resist, at least the ones I don't commit are.
In December of 1987, Jimmy Hester set out to come up with a Christian Sex Education program. By 1992, he was presenting his work to LifeWay. In February of the following year, the youth group of Tulip Grove Baptist Church in Hermitage, Tennessee became the first youth group to sign their purity pledge. This was the start of the True Love Waits Movement. Youth groups for the last 31
years have signed similar pledges, studied the material, and received purity rings. There have been ceremonies before the church, special dinners, and even festivals put on by churches to promote True Love Waits which simple states that the best way to handle premarital sex is not to have it.
As a youth leader and later as a youth minister I did my share of True Love Waits studies. I gave out pledge cards, purity rings and lead the ceremonies. One year's study stands out in my mind. Not because of any reason that had to do with True Love Waits. It has to do with some guys cutting up as they discussed the upcoming pledge card signing. It has stuck in my mind and caused many hours of thought, studying and processing. The guys who spurred all this don't even know I heard them and I will keep it that way for their sake.
It was after church one night just prior to the pledge card signing. There was 3 boys discussing their "nervousness" about signing the card. Two of the boys seemed really concerned about signing the pledge cards. They were worried what future girlfriends would say when they told them about their pledges. One seemed more concerned about what the other guys in their sport's locker room would say to them. He feared the teasing and name calling. Both boys also expressed concern over being about to resist the temptation when the time come. The third boy had been mostly silent. Finally he spoke up, "Why don't you just sign it. You know it is the right thing to do. I don't see the problem." Just as he finished talking one of the other boys shot back, "That's easy for you to say. You don't have to worried about being tempted because you can't even get a girlfriend." Now before you start getting upset about what he said, everybody knew that wasn't true. This guy may not have had a girlfriend at that particular moment, but he had one more often than not. That was just guys picking on one another. But it got me to thinking and not about True Love Waits.
What the boy said about temptation is very true. We all can resist temptations that we are not tempted with. And because we are not tempted by those temptations that is the sin we choose to speak out against more often than not. It is the sin we are tempted with that we are silent about most
of the time. Not only that we are quick to judge those who fall into temptations that we are not drawn too. We label those sins are the "real bad ones." The sins we commit become the "not so bad ones" or the "justified ones." The truth is, they are all sin. It doesn't matter who commits them, they are still sin. It is like me telling people who eat a lot of avocado that they shouldn't eat that much avocado. I am not tempted to eat too much avocado because I am not a fan of it at all. Now, don't let them tell me I eat too much bacon because that is okay. Bacon is God's gift to all the world to remind them that He loves them, right? No, that is just my opinion. Just like it is my opinion that your sin is worse than my because I don't commit that sin. I don't commit that sin because I am too busy committing my sins. Maybe it isn't a sin I just don't enjoy or have the opportunity to commit. I have to remember that just because I don't commit it doesn't make it #1 on the worse sins list anymore than me committing a sin makes it #99 on the list.
Maybe if God's people quit trying to rid the world of one specific sin, of course not theirs, and instead try to show the world more of God's love we could reach more people. We don't have to accept, promote, tolerate or like any sin and we shouldn't. We need to remember sin isn't the problem. The problem is too many people don't have Jesus in their heart and the ones that do don't always look at the world through His loving eyes. The result of these things is sin: lies, judgement, fornication, cheating, stealing, gossiping, back biting, murder, addictions, your sins, my sins and our sins. The same blood that was shed to forgive my sins was shed for your sins and their sins. That is a message of love. That's what the world needs, more of God's love and less of our judgement.
Parting Thought: Which letter is silent in the word "scent"? The S or the C?
As a youth leader and later as a youth minister I did my share of True Love Waits studies. I gave out pledge cards, purity rings and lead the ceremonies. One year's study stands out in my mind. Not because of any reason that had to do with True Love Waits. It has to do with some guys cutting up as they discussed the upcoming pledge card signing. It has stuck in my mind and caused many hours of thought, studying and processing. The guys who spurred all this don't even know I heard them and I will keep it that way for their sake.
It was after church one night just prior to the pledge card signing. There was 3 boys discussing their "nervousness" about signing the card. Two of the boys seemed really concerned about signing the pledge cards. They were worried what future girlfriends would say when they told them about their pledges. One seemed more concerned about what the other guys in their sport's locker room would say to them. He feared the teasing and name calling. Both boys also expressed concern over being about to resist the temptation when the time come. The third boy had been mostly silent. Finally he spoke up, "Why don't you just sign it. You know it is the right thing to do. I don't see the problem." Just as he finished talking one of the other boys shot back, "That's easy for you to say. You don't have to worried about being tempted because you can't even get a girlfriend." Now before you start getting upset about what he said, everybody knew that wasn't true. This guy may not have had a girlfriend at that particular moment, but he had one more often than not. That was just guys picking on one another. But it got me to thinking and not about True Love Waits.
What the boy said about temptation is very true. We all can resist temptations that we are not tempted with. And because we are not tempted by those temptations that is the sin we choose to speak out against more often than not. It is the sin we are tempted with that we are silent about most
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| “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.Matt 7:1 (HCSB) |
Maybe if God's people quit trying to rid the world of one specific sin, of course not theirs, and instead try to show the world more of God's love we could reach more people. We don't have to accept, promote, tolerate or like any sin and we shouldn't. We need to remember sin isn't the problem. The problem is too many people don't have Jesus in their heart and the ones that do don't always look at the world through His loving eyes. The result of these things is sin: lies, judgement, fornication, cheating, stealing, gossiping, back biting, murder, addictions, your sins, my sins and our sins. The same blood that was shed to forgive my sins was shed for your sins and their sins. That is a message of love. That's what the world needs, more of God's love and less of our judgement.
Parting Thought: Which letter is silent in the word "scent"? The S or the C?
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