If you could take the temperature of your heart, would it be high, low, or normal? I am not talking about the actual temperature. Hopefully, it is close to 98.6 Fahrenheit or 37 Celsius. I am talking about the temperature of your attitude. What are you feeling in your heart of hearts or your soul?
This is a critical part of the initial battle of recovery. The lies we believe cause us to think that God is finished with us, we might not even be saved, or we might as well give up and give in to our darkest desires. We feel we don’t want to do that when we are in our right mind but our enemy works with power to keep us from the truth.
Here is what a young man emailed to me yesterday…
“I feel disgusted…tell me how many times that God could forgive us? If I failed Him for more than 50 times, will he forgive me for my continuous sins? Tell me, sir…I have been fasting, gone to church, asked God several times to remove that sin from me…but He couldn’t help me. How can I overcome this ???????”
Here is a young man wallowing in the swamp of doubt and in danger of losing heart and having little hope for recovery. I imagine he is furious with himself and his continuing to fall back into sexual sin. However, we can all relate to those feelings of self-loathing. We have tried our best, but it has not been enough, and we find ourselves falling over and over again.
Notice what we read in Hebrews 12:1-3 a verse well worth memorizing…
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Notice with me a couple of things. What grabs my attention right from the start is the phrase “the sin which so easily entangles us.” He could have said that all with the one word “porn.” There has always been some kind of porn or the erotic use of nakedness. Cavemen put their own centerfolds on the walls of their homes. A good artistic caveman could probably make some extra cash charging admission to his cave. But I digress…
Sexual sin has to be the most prevalent sin of all time. My wife and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city…awhile back…and walked through room after room filled with images of fancy-dressed men and women…along with some provocative nude paintings. Triggering it was for me.
However, we are told to lay aside every encumbrance and this sin that has so easily entangled us…for some at a very early age. And how does the writer suggest we do?
“…fixing our eyes on Jesus…”
And not fixing our eyes on Jesus feeding the 5000, raising Lazarus from the dead, or walking on water. No, the image needs to be more graphic…more shocking…something we do not want to think about but need to focus on very seriously…
“…He endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Sure, He rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the throne of God. But do not forget about His enduring the cross and despising the shame. Many scholars believe that when men were crucified, they were naked. Completely exposed to those watching. Doubly shamed as a criminal being put to death and naked for everyone to see and unable to hide it.
When you are being tempted to see nakedness…what if we did what this passage is telling us to do. Fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Instead of releasing our passions over the sexual images, we want to see…what if we focus on His Passion. His passionate love for us that would drive Him to “…for the joy before Him…” endured the most painful method of death in public and naked.
We look at naked people and imagine in our minds that they want us. What a load of crap that is. They want your money. They want your mind. They want your soul but what they will never want is to love you and be intimate with you. That is an itch they cannot scratch. And they will continue until they have your job, your marriage, and your family and when it is all gone you will feel the worst pain and emptiness you have ever known.
And why did Jesus do that? What are we supposed to remember about the ruthless hostility and attacks He endured for us??? So that…
“…you will not grow weary and lose heart!!!”
We can never be more wrong thinking that our sin has separated us from God. It was Him coming to pay the penalty for our sins, demonstrating His unconditional love for us that He allowed the men He himself created…to strip him naked and slaughter Him on the cross.
That is an image of nakedness that we should never forget…because it is real, and if you are looking for someone to love you and who wants to meet your deepest desire for true intimacy… look no further than Jesus hanging on the Cross.