"You hear that it was declared, 'You shall not commit adultery.' Yet I am saying to you that every man looking at a woman to lust for her already commits adultery with her in his heart"
Matthews Account 5: 27-28, Concordant Old Testament
I'm not afraid to admit that I once fell for the lie of the accuser. I believed it when he whispered to me that this was what men do. Yes, I knew that this was not God who was leading me, but I was also caught in the false identity that I was my own man. Had I known then what I know now, I may have been better prepared to tackle the biggest sales pitch in history. Not long ago, a good friend shared with me the truth that I already knew...sex sells. We see it every day in every aspect of our society. From television and movies, to the way we conduct our relationships with the opposite sex. It seems that sex has become the be all end all for each and every male of the Fathers children. We think about it, dream of it and in the end often end up partaking in it. All because of a lie spoken by the accuser. A lie which has convinced many a man that a woman is there purely for his own enjoyment. I was once one of those men. I would seldom think that the immoral thoughts I was having were against someone's wife, sister or daughter. That didn't matter in the moment. What mattered most was how I was going to use her for my own fulfillment. I'd read the words of Jesus teaching against the evils of adultery. But those were simply words, right? How could Jesus understand how difficult it was for me to grow up in this seemingly sexually charged society? After all, wasn't Jesus so distant from my daily life as He watched over me from heaven? This is what the mainstream church had taught me. This was the very same church that organized conferences, sermons and small groups all designed to "Free" me from the perils of sexual sin. I recall more than a few Promise Keepers conferences where the men who gathered were encouraged to join in a commitment to be a strong man and a strong leader of their families. A leader who was first and foremost in the family structure. Again, these seemingly faith based ministries had relegated many wives to secondary status. When the dust finally settled and the conference ended, many of us were back where we had began, with no clear direction or knowledge of God the Father. This isn't an indictment on the Promise Keeper ministry, as I'm sure that it helped a good share of men find their way to Jesus. But they didn't help me. They didn't help me because at the time I had no idea who I was inside. No idea how it was that the Father saw me.
So Elohim created humanity in His image; in the image of Elohim He created it: male and female He created them
Genesis 1: 27, Concordant Old Testament
My first inkling of how it is that God truly saw me was through a conversation with a friend. This blew my entire assumption of God out of the water. For years I had lived under the theology of the mainstream church, which taught me that God was someone who had already branded me as a sinner. I had been born under sin, and therefore in sin I remained, apart from God. This also is part of the lie of the accuser. What I learned that day from my good friend was that I had been lied to, by Satan AND by the church. God did not see me as a condemned sinner, but as His loved and cherished child {First Epistle of John 3:1}. Not only that, but the life which I live is not in this world, but in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. Slowly I began to realize that if the Father viewed me as His cherished child, then how much more did He cherish those women whom I had sought after? After all, it is He who created both in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}. There is no difference between myself and her besides the differences in our flesh images. We are both in the Father. So, how is it that I could have such thoughts about one of the Lords own children? Knowing this truth exposes the lies of the accuser. It wasn't long after my conversation with my friend that I found myself outside the door of one of Portland's many strip clubs one evening. As I was about to enter, a thought entered into my heart, 'This isn't who I am, I'm His child.' Needless to say, I walked away from that place that night with more of a knowing of how it is that the Father really sees me. This is knowing the truth of our life in Him.
Perceive what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God! And we are! Therefore the world does not know us, for it did not know Him
First Epistle of John 3: 1, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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