AND THE FOLLOW UP...

The other day I posted this to Facebook.
             

I've gone back and forth all day as to address this or not. I am just heartbroken for what I fear has happened and will happen to many many marriages and relationships. 50 shades of Grey. Magic Mike. These are just the front runners today. We have seen it with Twilight. We have seen it in TV shows for years. Ladies, please be on your guard. We have an enemy looking to devour us and ours. That little sting of discontentment you feel after reading books or watching shows of that nature, or any that we use to fill a void we think we have, that may well be his first bite before he devours you, your relationships, and your family. You may not see it until it is too late. Please, please be on your guard and use discernment. Ask yourself if you would be ok with your husband or boyfriend or son seeing and reading similar stories involving women. It is something we all, myself included, need to be alert about. Our enemy, the devil, is sly. He often hides great falls under the guise of fun.

Honestly, I struggled with it. Not because I don't stand behind it, because I do, but because I didn't want you to think I have it all together and never struggle with discontentment in my life.

I don't.

I have.

I still do.

That it is not enough. Our job. Our home. Our relationships. Our spouses. Our God. It is the goal of the enemy to get us to doubt those things. More importantly, it is his goal to get us convinced that Christ is not enough. To forgive our sins. To heal our wounds. To redeem what has been lost. To restore our lives.

Maybe you are content with all you have. I say great! Praise God that you are. In that contentment, be alert. Even in the midst of our learning to be content, and choosing to be content, we must be on guard. Even the smallest hint of wistful thinking, of vain imaginations, of lust (in any sense), could be just the root that tiny seed might need to flourish. I can testify to that fact...the smallest, most fleeting of thoughts can cause a root to dig in so deep you won't even know it until it is too late.

I am not talking about wanting to better your life. Wanting to have a better job, a better marriage, a better handle on your money, or whatever. I am talking about the feeling that what you have been given is not enough, a feeling that leaves you extremmely unsettled and void of peace.

What if the seed has already been planted? What if you have crossed that line and find yourself gnawing on the bone of discontentedness - in any area?

READ ME CLEARLY - JESUS CHRIST IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO HANDLE THAT!

It won't be easy. It will take choices on your part. The choice to look at what is really going on inside your heart, which is usually the ugliest and scariest part. The choice to call sin out. The choice to willingly submit your ways, actions, words, and decisions to Jesus Christ. The choice to let go of it and let Jesus help you. Maybe even the choice to tell someone else and get an accountability partner.

But it can be done. Your contentment can be restored. Your joy can be restored. Your peace can be restored.

With your spouse.

Your life.

Your job.

Your relationships.

Jesus Christ in more than enough.

So be wise guys and gals. Wise as serpants.

Be gentle peeps. Gentle as doves.

Be confident. Confident in Christ Jesus.

He is our victory.

1 John 5: 3-5(NIV)

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.