Vulnerability - 30 Days of Authenticity #4
Oh what a cute baby! What cute teeth - until they bite your boob!
The thing about love is that it makes you vulnerable. Look at all the action movies, the heroes are invincible until they love someone. Then they are open to hurt, because if you love something, you risk suffering.
I have lots of men in my life. If I hear a study, read an article or learn a statistic I can start to get palpitations. I know from personal experience the devastating effects that pornography addiction can have on relationships. I also know that access to this addictive material is easier to get than at any time in our history. These things make me vulnerable because I love my men and I want them to live lives pleasing to God. I want them to have deep and profoundly wonderful relationships with God and people, including their future spouses. I want to protect myself. I don't want to get hurt by the sin in this world.
When I think about these things I often find myself stuck in a spiral of thoughts batting back and forth fear and faith at regular intervals. When I was on the downward spiral at church the other day, God spoke to me with words that stopped me in my tracks.
What he said was simple, yet profound. "I love you. I love you so much that I will chase you down wherever you go. There is nowhere that you can go that I will not be with you. I paid for your sin with my blood. Past, present, future. The same is true for your children. There is no dark pit they could ever descend into where I would not be. I would stop at nothing to rescue them. My love is constant"
Statistic: 60% of evangelical men are addicted to pornography. ( I don't even know if this is right or where it's from, I just heard it from a speaker last weekend)
Old Thought: Surrounded by all these men, we are doomed. ( I would take you down the spiral of the thoughts that can come from here but they are not uplifting and I'm sure you know where they lead : fear, anxiety and depression)
New Thought: Pornography addiction is not a big deal to God. Well, it is and it isn't. It's a huge deal in that it can derail lives, ruin families, cripple relationships, steal joy and meaningful connection, and it a sin punishable by death. Sort of a big deal. But God in his mercy paid the death penalty for us. Not only for this but for every sin. Including the sin of wrongfully judging others and the sin of living a life that does not believe the promises of God. He paid for those! The really big deal is this THERE IS NOTHING IN ALL CREATION THAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!
Please hear this, I am not in any way saying that pornography addiction is okay. It's abhorrent to God. What I am saying is that we need to drag it over to where it belongs - next to the cross. If we size up the power of an addiction next to the size of the power of the cross, we will see how big it really is, very small indeed.
I don't have all the answers but what I do know is this. The only way to live life is to be vulnerable. The only way to withstand the risk that comes with vulnerability is to wrap yourself completely - head to toe- in the radical love of a savior who would stop at nothing to make you his.
Beloved, know that you are his. His love and grace are there for you, for me, and for our families as we go boldly into this world and this generation to proclaim the truth and act as Jesus's ambassadors, doing what he did.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free," Luke 4:18
I can hardly think of a more vulnerable position to be in than having your most tender part willingly submitted to small mouth with two sets of sharp teeth in them, the marks of which have already been embedded in your flesh. There is this feeling, almost blood curdling, that you get before you risk again. Please, please don't hurt me! As hard as it is to risk hurting your body to nourish your baby, opening up the soft places of your heart is more difficult still.
I have lots of men in my life. If I hear a study, read an article or learn a statistic I can start to get palpitations. I know from personal experience the devastating effects that pornography addiction can have on relationships. I also know that access to this addictive material is easier to get than at any time in our history. These things make me vulnerable because I love my men and I want them to live lives pleasing to God. I want them to have deep and profoundly wonderful relationships with God and people, including their future spouses. I want to protect myself. I don't want to get hurt by the sin in this world.
When I think about these things I often find myself stuck in a spiral of thoughts batting back and forth fear and faith at regular intervals. When I was on the downward spiral at church the other day, God spoke to me with words that stopped me in my tracks.
What he said was simple, yet profound. "I love you. I love you so much that I will chase you down wherever you go. There is nowhere that you can go that I will not be with you. I paid for your sin with my blood. Past, present, future. The same is true for your children. There is no dark pit they could ever descend into where I would not be. I would stop at nothing to rescue them. My love is constant"
Statistic: 60% of evangelical men are addicted to pornography. ( I don't even know if this is right or where it's from, I just heard it from a speaker last weekend)
Old Thought: Surrounded by all these men, we are doomed. ( I would take you down the spiral of the thoughts that can come from here but they are not uplifting and I'm sure you know where they lead : fear, anxiety and depression)
New Thought: Pornography addiction is not a big deal to God. Well, it is and it isn't. It's a huge deal in that it can derail lives, ruin families, cripple relationships, steal joy and meaningful connection, and it a sin punishable by death. Sort of a big deal. But God in his mercy paid the death penalty for us. Not only for this but for every sin. Including the sin of wrongfully judging others and the sin of living a life that does not believe the promises of God. He paid for those! The really big deal is this THERE IS NOTHING IN ALL CREATION THAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!
Please hear this, I am not in any way saying that pornography addiction is okay. It's abhorrent to God. What I am saying is that we need to drag it over to where it belongs - next to the cross. If we size up the power of an addiction next to the size of the power of the cross, we will see how big it really is, very small indeed.
I don't have all the answers but what I do know is this. The only way to live life is to be vulnerable. The only way to withstand the risk that comes with vulnerability is to wrap yourself completely - head to toe- in the radical love of a savior who would stop at nothing to make you his.
Beloved, know that you are his. His love and grace are there for you, for me, and for our families as we go boldly into this world and this generation to proclaim the truth and act as Jesus's ambassadors, doing what he did.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free," Luke 4:18
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