Immoral and Godless 2

...that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. (Hebrews 12:16)

Yesterday I pointed out that a person who is immoral is not necessarily so sexually, even though that is usually how we view immorality. But the fact also remains that many times immorality does involve sexual issues. But my question is, what lies behind this? What is the real reason behind a person giving their sexuality over to another or even to a sexual activity without another person directly involved? What drives people's cravings for things of this nature that are outside of what God's will is for us? When all the condemnation is pushed aside that is usually present in this discussion, what is the real heart issues that drive so many into this trap?

Again, the timing is right on target so well that I have to believe that God arranged it. The devotional reading from Jon Pauline's book this morning was about this very subject and covered it so well that I saw this verse from yet a better perspective. Jon was commenting on the story of Balaam, Balak and the time when the Children of Israel were led into disconnecting from God's protection by alluring them into illicit sexual activity along with prostituting their allegiance to false gods. It all resulted in the death of 24,000 Israelites in the end and was a painful lesson for them.

What he brought out in today's message was the discussion about what's wrong with sex outside of marriage. Very many people today do not feel that there is anything wrong with enjoying sexual relations between consenting adults, particularly if they believe they love each other and may be planning to get married some day. It just seems that waiting for the “artificial” moment of being declared married before engaging in sex is just simply old fashioned superstition that most of society has outgrown today. That may be good enough for the older, more staid generations, but it just doesn't make any sense in today's realistic world.

This reasoning is very compelling if the rest of the truth is not factored in. But like all really good deceptions, no matter how compelling it may sound it is dependent on avoiding some very important fundamental truths that make up actual reality. Just like the Children of Israel found out in the agonies suffered after their loss of God's protection in the story mentioned above, those who buy into this emotional theory are setting themselves up for tragedies that far outweigh any enjoyment and pleasure they may be receiving in the present. And these consequences are not artificial punishments imposed by an angry, offended God as Satan would lead us to believe. They are natural consequences of violations of natural principles that govern reality just as strongly as the law of gravity holds things toward the earth.

But what drives many of us toward desiring these things even in the face of potential disastrous results? What is the underlying motivation that continues to urge us in this direction even when we agree that it is not good for us? I found the clearest answer in Jon's thoughts today in the following words.

“Promiscuous sexuality tends to occur when people have a low sense of worth. What they do not value they freely throw away.” (The Gospel from Patmos p. 63)

I don't think it could be put any better. What drives the whole industry revolving around the promotion of sex of all sorts is people's lack of self-worth. It is almost always masked behind layers of other issues, but when followed to its deepest core it will always be found that we just don't feel very valuable and our mind believes that engaging in sex with someone will somehow prop us up and make us feel loved or needed or valuable, at least a little bit or for a little while. So we take the gamble and give ourselves away sexually, even if only in our imagination, in hopes that maybe this will cure the deep pain of valuelessness that continually haunts our deepest soul.

Most of this reasoning goes on out of sight below our conscious radar, so it may come as a surprise to some and produce a lot of skepticism in others. But I believe that if we become transparent about what is really going on in our deepest heart that this scenario will be very close to the truth. Satan has embedded this false reasoning deep into our flesh and it feels so good that it is easy to override what God has revealed is for our best good. But not everything that looks and feels good for the moment is really for our best good. The very nature of deception is to act as a trap just like the traps set for animals. The animal is deceived into believing that they can grasp something that will bring them pleasure or satisfy their hunger only to discover that they become hopelessly caught in the overpowering grip of the hidden mechanism designed to ensnare and eventually destroy their freedom or their life. This is the same situation with sexual temptations.

Since the core hunger being utilized to entrap us with this bait is our lack of sense of real worth or value, what is the way we can satisfy this hunger without becoming entrapped? What is the healthy way for us to receive a real sense of value and feel loved and fulfilled? What is the original design for our heart to feel alive and thrive and grow in safety?

It is exactly at this point that I fear to say almost anything, realizing that many, many people are ready to switch off any attention they may still have because of their skepticism at hearing some religious platitudes that don't really work in the real world. I too am very skeptical of religious platitudes and simplistic answers and have spent years looking for more realistic reasons for why life works the way God designed it. Religion has fabricated and distorted nearly everything God has said with the result that the typical answers are often rendered ineffective or distorted.

Most religion makes God out to be the arbitrary punisher who is waiting to pounce on anyone He finds violating His rules and inflict as much pain and suffering as He feels like until He is sufficiently appeased or they are effectively taught a harsh lesson. I strongly reject this notion of God even though it is generally descriptive of the concept of Him that I grew up with. I have been increasingly aware over the past few years that these are all the lies of Satan to keep me blinded to the true beauty and attractiveness of the real God and I am determined to get past the huge smokescreen of lies and see the true glory behind all the smoke and mirrors of the enemy.

So what does this have to do with immorality and Esau and roots of bitterness? What I suddenly saw this morning when I again came to this text after reading Jon's thoughts on the problems with promiscuity was the realization that Esau did not really have a sense of real worth deep inside of him from a trust in God. His life revolved around a worth based only on his externals and a dependence on himself to take care of life with little regard for what God thought about him. Consequently, being disconnected from God he lost the only valid source of real worth and so was condemned to a life of intense activity to look after his own life in any way he could. He lived for the moment, for whatever would make him feel good today and whatever would fix his immediate pain without reference to God's view of reality or even what might happen in the future.

This text says that Esau was both immoral and godless. I now see that the two very clearly go together. Because God is the only reliable source of a real and lasting sense of value at our deepest core, when we disconnect from God as our source we become godless. That is not to say that we have no gods at all – indeed we exchange the one true God for many replacement gods that become more and more tyrannical in their control over our lives. But we become godless in that we have discarded the only true God from which we were designed to receive real life from so that we would be able to thrive and live and grow for eternity. To turn away from God as our source of identity and value to anything or anyone else is the very essence of sin itself. And the wages of sin is always death, not because God imposes it but simply because death is the absence of life and life can only come from the one Source of life.

The natural consequences of turning away from the only reliable Source of value and identity is turning to immorality to try to fill the void. Immorality is the counterfeit source of life that attempts in many ways to fill the gap created in our hearts by the loss of real love, of feeling cherished and nurtured by Someone who desires our best good and has all the provisions we need for life. If we do not accept the grace, the provisions for life and thriving that comes from the dynamic Source of all life, then we are forced to look anywhere we can to fill our inflamed hunger for satisfaction. Immorality then becomes the collection of gods that take over control of our life and enslave us in their ever-tightening grip of death. This immorality may or may not involve sexuality, but it will always be some form of false source of supposed life and satisfaction. It can even be religion itself that becomes our supposed source of life and value and identity in place of the real God. But anything outside of an intimate, life-receiving, on-going and growing connection with the Creator God who we were designed to live with will lead us in some direction that eventually ends in pain, loss and eventually death. That is the essence of immorality.

This has been the choice to make for everyone since the beginning of this whole tragic experiment with sin. We will either trust ourselves to the God who designed us for ever-increasing life and joy with Him or we will choose another way that produces disharmony, selfishness and tension. This is the core of the whole battle going on in the whole universe and has now become primarily focused on this planet.

See to it...that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. (Hebrews 12:16) Because Esau did not believe that the birthright from God had any current value for him because of his disregard for God's view of reality, then he was more than ready to exchange it for the immediate pleasure of satisfying his physical hunger for a few hours. Likewise, many who have disregarded God's gift of sexuality for bonding and intimacy in the God-like arrangement of marriage that reflects the original image of God created in Adam and Eve, are willing to exchange it for the pleasure of sexual release or supposed affirmation in an illicit rendezvous or even a live-in situation supposing that they can supplement their need to feel valued through such an arrangement.

But all counterfeits are destined to collapse sooner or later and the evil consequences always far outweigh the benefits when we attempt to extract value for ourselves from the imitation gods of our own making. Disconnecting from God's realities will always tend toward death just as disconnecting an electrical appliance from its power source sooner or later causes it to cease functioning.

But the good news is still available today. Where sin abounds grace much more abounds. (Rom. 5:20) The only thing between us and a return to Life is our choice to receive that grace and allow it to begin the work of salvage in our life. God yearns to save everyone who will give Him the chance to turn their hearts toward His heart of infinite love and passion for them. And I add my own prayers to His desire that anyone who might chance across this will choose to accept His offer of life and restoration for their heart right now.

God, thank-you for your grace and your infinite, unstoppable love and compassion. Fill my own heart with your passion and reorient my mind to see life and others through your eyes today instead of through my misconceptions. Use me as a channel of your grace and attraction so that someone will be willing to change direction and turn to you for real life that never disappoints. Fill me with more of your abundant life so that others will more easily believe the truth about you. You are my God, my Savior and my Lover. I give myself and my heart to you to be filled and satisfied and empowered with your value for me today however you want to do that. Thank-you for revealing more and more of the real truth about you to me over the past few months and years. You are so kind and generous and gracious. Surround me with your constant presence and keep transforming me into thinking, feeling and acting like you do so that your reputation will be improved by the exhibition of your work in my life.

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