John Piper has some words of wisdom for us.
“… so many young people are being lost to the cause of Christ’s mission because they are not taught how to deal with the guilt of sexual failure. The problem is not just how not to fail. The problem is how to deal with failure so that it doesn’t sweep away your whole life into wasted mediocrity with no impact for Christ.
The tragedy is that Satan uses guilt from these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had or might have. In their place, he gives you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures, until you die in your lakeside rocking chair.
… if all you can see in the Cross of Jesus is a license to go on sinning, then you don’t have saving faith.
Being armed with biblical knowledge of God, Christ, the Cross, and salvation can give such ballast to the boat of your life that the wind of temptation will not be able to tip it over easily. The reason this is not a popular remedy for temptation today is because it is not a quick fix. It’s the work of a lifetime.
When you learn to deal with the guilt of sexual failure by this kind brokenhearted boldness, this kind of theology, this kind of justification by faith, this kind of substitutionary atonement, this kind of gutsy guilt, you will fall less often. Why is this so? Because Christ will become increasingly precious to you.
Best of all, Satan will not be able to destroy your dream of a life of radical obedience to Christ. By this Christ-exalting gutsy guilt, thousands of you will give your lives to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.”
Good stuff. Thanks, John.
Bob
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
__________________________
Bob Pratico
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
(my Sojourn blog)
save to del.icio.us
share on Facebook
on Technorati
Wise words from Piper of
Wise words from Piper of course.
“The tragedy is that Satan uses guilt from these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had or might have.”
I think you also have to consider this in the context of US evangelicalism’s elevation of sexual sin far above all classes of sin. It goes without saying that sexual transgressions are serious, of course, but much of the church has forgotten about a lot of other sins, e.g. “…enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy….” (Gal 5.20-21, ESV)
So it’s little wonder that, if certain sins are unbiblically held up as far graver than others, Satan uses those sins more deviously to convince people that they’re beyond redemption.
Philip’s tunnel to nowhere: blog.godblessthefreaks.org
__________________________Philip’s tunnel to nowhere: blog.godblessthefreaks.org
Post new comment