modeling

Every person wants to do the right thing; at least a small part of them wants to do the right thing but they just don't know how. I'm convinced of this. I know that man is a fallen race, but I have utter confidence in the ingrained moral system that God created. I believe a man is made holy by the Spirit that he invites to live inside him.

However, wanting to do the right thing and actually doing it are two different stories. Most of the time when I have this decision to make, fear is the driving factor behind the "wrong" decision, whether it be avoiding confrontation, telling a white-lie, or simply avoiding inconvenience. Talking about relationships and purity, I've learned that the best way to learn is through example. Most things in life, I have learned through the correction of others. I have had to act humbly in order to accept reproof. However, for a while, I thought that relationships were different. I thought that two people had to learn how to love one another in spite of business and in spite of getting on the other's nerves (which is true but not the whole truth).

According to Jennifer Roback Morse, whom I heard speak today, someone who has grown up in a single parent household wishes for life-long marriage in his/her life, but simply doesn't know what it looks like. In the first sense, which I introduced in the last paragraph, when two people become parents, it's new and real for them and neither one is ever fully prepared for the change (but somehow they do just fine). Morse, taking this into account, says that you should still humble yourself and seek out guidance, a model...especially if you have not lived with/observed a functional marriage in your development. And it's true: sometimes you do just have to take the first step, but you should try to be as prepared as possible (cf. Proverbs 19:2). Also, you shouldn't try to make it on your own; in a business model, many hands make light work; in a familial model (or in a leading model, as parents are called to be), Proverbs 11:14 says, "For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure."

You gotta realize, a king has to humble himself to seek many advisers--so must we all. A couple shouldn't (though some do) learn how to interact with one another without the guidance of others. I believe it takes a community to "raise a family" (not just to raise a child, lol). A couple should seek mentors as individuals and together, and once married, only a fool would deny marriage counseling. Neither a man nor a woman are an island and I don't believe a marriage is an island and I don't believe a family is an island. It just takes humility and the willingness to realize you're not super(wo)man! To realize there are people that can help you do a better job; to be the BEST parent/spouse, you have to love the other party enough to dismiss your own pride completely, to open the door for God to change you! :)

Truth: an official introduction

Why is it wrong to lie? because God never lies. Yes, one reason why you shouldn't lie is because people don't trust a liar and don't confide in one who twists truth. BUT the latter is only so because lying is intrinsically wrong! Why would you love your neighbor as yourself and why would you forgive? because God loves His neighbors and He forgives. Yes, one reason you love others is because you want to be a healthy lover, receiving love and exercising the love onto others (as opposed to a fat lover that constantly takes and never exercises!). BUT the latter is only true because the former is true. God acts in truth; therefore, He is wise.

You see truth belongs to God. When you stumble upon truth, you have stumbled upon something that God has instituted because, by its very nature, it is fair and just and logical. A person cannot own truth/wisdom because she (wisdom) worked by God's side in the foundation of the world (read Proverbs 8). Not only should one do what is right because truth is absolute and uncompromising, one should do what is right because by being near to God, what is right permeates through the old self. A Christian saved by the glory of God should now echoes His characteristics (That's just how it works!).

One way we do this is to glorify God with the way we operate our bodies. Don’t think that once you’re married, the lust issue isn’t an issue any more. No, it is something that a person should seek to control because controlling our bodies is something that God instituted and is simply the correct way. The Bible wasn't givent to us so we could find loopholes--no! It was given to us so there would be no loopholes. A teacher gives a student a syllabus at the beginning of a course so there would be no question about what was to come, what was to be expected and so that a student may read it promptly, as he/she is responsible for the information presented in it. By the very nature of the Bible, it was created to make life easier. I think that if a person never lied, he/she would never have to free himself/herself from his/her neighbor's hands (Proverbs 6:1-5). The Bible both creates social order and a basis for unity among men, and between man and God.

It is for the glory of God that man trusts Him; it is for the glory of God that the house is not burnt down as we experiment in search for truth. Truth is basic and simple; man complicates it.

Purity: an official introduction

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him (James 1:5). And because wisdom is directly related to the situation in which one would show wisdom, wisdom can never arrive too late.

Knowledge is just wisdom removed from a situation; and there is a place for knowledge. But specifically with this verse, there is so much hope because so long as you are willing to do what is right at any cost, God will show you what to do before it is too late! How does this relate to purity? Here's how: if you ask God for wisdom, you have to be willing to act on that wisdom, else it is just more knowledge. You have to be willing to act in accordance with your beliefs. Same with purity, one who aspires for purity must do so in sound judgment, in full knowledge that purity isn't something you just stumble upon. It isn't something like innocence (or virginity) that you can lose, but rather it can be aspired for. You can't ask God to make you a virgin again; that's silly; but you can ask God to help you be pure and undefiled before Him. It's an ever striving task and one that deserves a commitment. If anyone desires purity, it takes planning and careful consideration to get there. It takes maxims and established "laws." In most senses laws are a good thing. They are definitive and promote "lines-in the-sand."