Straight Talk

Give God Your Heart

Proverbs 23:26-28 ESV

“My son, give me your heart,

    and let your eyes observe my ways.

For a prostitute is a deep pit;

    an adulteress is a narrow well.

She lies in wait like a robber

    and increases the traitors among mankind.”

This instruction isn’t just for men, or just for young men. This can apply to females as well as to males, and it can apply to people of most all ages, especially since so many children now are engaging in the viewing of pornographic images and/or are engaged in sex texting, and the like.

The counsel here is for all of us, young or old, male or female, no matter where we live or what background we come from, or what religion we might have been raised under, to give our hearts over to Jehovah God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who is Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit.

And to give our hearts to the Lord is to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, making him owner-master of our lives. It is to leave our lives of sin behind us and to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands. It is to die with Christ to sin and to live to Christ and to his righteousness, by God’s Spirit.

To let our eyes observe his ways, first of all, means to no longer let our eyes wander to where they ought not to go. We are not to look at others lustfully. And this includes movie and TV actors and actresses, too. We are not to yearn after them or fantasize about them or anyone to whom we are not married. And we are definitely not to look at porn or other trashy stuff.

And a prostitute isn’t just someone who makes a living out of having sex with other people. And the same with an adulteress. She isn’t just a married female who is cheating on her husband with another man (or woman). But she or he can be porn stars or movie actors/actresses who perform sexual scenes in movies or TV shows.

But it isn’t just that, for Jesus said to look at another lustfully is committing adultery in one’s heart. So, an adulterer or an adulteress could be a man or a woman who lusts after those to whom he/she is not married, which can be live people, or actors/actresses, or made-up people in one’s imagination.

And a prostitute is one who gives himself or herself away to others for sex indiscriminately, and with multiple partners, so one can prostitute himself or herself via self-gratification while viewing porn or watching movies or TV shows with sexual situations, or by using one’s own imagination. And, if married, this person is also an adulterer or adulteress.

So, the counsel here is for us to give our hearts to the Lord and not to others to whom we are not married, and not to the idols of mankind. And it is to let our eyes observe the ways of the Lord that we might walk in those ways, and that our eyes and our minds should be fixed on Jesus. And, if we are married, we should love our spouses and not be unfaithful to them.

The Power of Intoxication

Proverbs 23:29-35 ESV

“Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

    Who has strife? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

    Who has redness of eyes?

Those who tarry long over wine;

    those who go to try mixed wine.

Do not look at wine when it is red,

    when it sparkles in the cup

    and goes down smoothly.

In the end it bites like a serpent

    and stings like an adder.

Your eyes will see strange things,

    and your heart utter perverse things.

You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,

    like one who lies on the top of a mast.

‘They struck me,’ you will say, ‘but I was not hurt;

    they beat me, but I did not feel it.

When shall I awake?

    I must have another drink.’”

We can be drunk on other things, not just alcoholic beverages. We can be intoxicated to lust, to sin (in general), to pride, to power, to romantic love, to extra-marital affairs, to self, to dominance over others, and the like. 

Anything which takes over our minds, our hearts, and our emotions, which leads us to do what is irrational, senseless, and which hurts others, and which leads us to live lives which are out-of-control and to do really stupid stuff, is intoxication. And it is addiction. And it is wrong.

And any addictions, and any intoxications which lead us to irrational and self-indulgent behavior without conscience, or without fear of consequence, or without concern or regard for who we are going to hurt in the process, will come back to bite us like a snake. It will not go well for us in the end.

Not just alcohol, but any intoxications to sin lead to irrational behavior and loss of self-control, and if that is what we seek after, and if that is what we engage in, we will end up doing and saying things to hurt others and that will harm us, too. But those who are living in “stupid” gear are often oblivious to the harm they are doing to themselves until it is too late.

And even if they are confronted with their sinful condition, and even if their loved ones plead with them to change, and even though they may lose job, home, spouse, children, and the like, they may go on in their stupidity and drown themselves in their own lack of good sense, to their own demise.

This is the picture of an addict, and an addict is one who is enslaved to sin, but Jesus Christ died on that cross to deliver us from our addiction to sin. We just have to take the way out that he provided if we want to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God.

So, if this is where you are, drowning in your own sins, living for one high to the next, making your addiction of choice your idol, please know that Jesus Christ died to set you free and to give you a new life in him free from your addiction to sin and empowered of God to live a holy life, pleasing to God, where you will be at peace and at rest and you will be joyful in Jesus.

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:7; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10]

Jesus, Rescue Me  

An Original Work / September 18, 2011

Based off of Romans 7:7-8:39

Jesus, rescue me today.

Listen while I bow and pray.

I need Your help to obey You;

Live for You always.

Meet me in my hour of need, Lord,

As I pray to You.

Help me walk in fellowship, Lord,

Living in Your truth.

Jesus, how I long for You to

Change my heart anew.

Father, God, my heart’s desire

Is to live for You this hour

In Your Holy Spirit’s power

Living in me now.

Teach me to walk in Your love, Lord,

Guiding me each day.

Help me to show love and kindness

To the lost, I pray.

Father, teach me to love others

As You love always.

Holy Spirit come in pow’r.

Revive our hearts in this hour.

Change our hearts to be like You, Lord;

Live for You each day.

Help us to forsake our sins, Lord,

As we humbly pray.

Teach us how to live for You, Lord,

Obey You always.

Holy Spirit come in power,

Revive us today. 

https://vimeo.com/126092919