A few weeks ago, you probably saw that Josh Duggar made the news again. This time because he was part of an affair website that hackers exposed.
You can read his statement here.
I don’t intend to make light of what Josh did, what he did was wrong, but I want to give us strategy to fight against the temptations of the world. Because our big action’s don’t just happen, there are steps that lead to that destruction.
The gospel, the good news, at it’s core EXPOSES our depravity and NEED for grace.
The good news is that God alone is Holy and perfect and pure and without the finished sacrifice of Christ we are completely helpless and full of wretchedness. The righteousness that we get, is a gift of grace from the Lord.
What if our war for morality started with empathy. What if instead of us touting our righteousness (which was a free gift and nothing earned) we related with peoples struggle.
Wasn’t that God’s way of doing it? Didn’t He send His son to walk among us, to be tempted in every way but still choose the ways of God because He had a revelation of how good God’s plan is?
The human condition is that we’re all searching for something. Love and acceptance. We’re all orphans looking for a Father.
If you got quiet right now and reread that sentence and were real with yourself you’d realize what I’m writing is true.
So in our search for love and acceptance we run to anything that appears to give us that.
God loves us, and accepts us because of Christ’s sacrifice, but it doesn’t stop there. In His goodness He transforms us, He doesn’t let us stay the same.
You don’t want God to just accept you as you are. You want God to transform you.
There’s a huge difference between a gracious loving God and a god that accepts you by condoning all that you do.
Our problem Christians is we are not exemplifying the GOODNESS of God. And we forget to be honest about our struggles.
God’s ways ARE better. We’re trading in all of our broken junk ways that don’t work, hasn’t worked and will never work for pure gold.
Our temptations do not identify us. Jesus was TEMPTED in every way but was without sin. The devil wants us to make us think that temptations are our identity. Because once we say this is who we are, then that is what we do.
I’m in full time ministry and have been for the past decade and I’m still tempted daily with things I know are wrong. Sometimes the battle rages and I win, and sometimes I don’t. I am daily in need of grace. But just because an idea pops into my head doesn’t mean that I am that temptation.
We have to bring our struggles into the light. If you are struggling with a recurring temptation, share that with someone you can trust. When we allow things to stay in the darkness it grows. We feel ashamed because we’re tempted and we think that no one else is tempted in that way, but it’s not true. We can’t do it alone. Maybe someone has been through what you’re going through and has a practical strategy to overcome.
Sin is sin. It’s choosing other than God intends. We need to know the nature and character of God and learn that He is so trustworthy and good. And then the decision to choose His ways is easier.
Remind yourself of what the gospel is. Be honest. Lead with empathy. And get your struggles into the light.
Praying for Josh Duggar. Praying for those people that think having an affair will fulfill them. It won’t. Praying that we’d see and exemplify how good God is.
