Looking for love in too many places. And some of us never find love because we’re looking in all the wrong places.
Love isn’t glitz and glamour. Love isn’t found in things, people, or the backseat of a car. Nor on the beaches of the world at spring break. Love isn’t a physical act. No, that’s hormones. And those feelings change as often as the weather in Texas.
Divorce rates in and out of the church confirm we’ve all believed the lie. We’ve all rebelled against God’s Word and Satan sits on the sidelines thumbing his nose at God while over fifty-four million babies have been sucked from the womb into abortionists’ sinks.
Love is belonging. A commitment. A relationship.
Love is Jesus.
The tragedy is, we don’t have the ability to love without Him.
Scripture tells us: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJ) And instructs, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…” (Matthew 15:19 NKJ).
Yes, the thoughts of our minds originate in our hearts. And our hearts are diseased from the beginning. We need a transplant. And Jesus is the only Physician on call. No heart, not yours nor mine, is beyond the Father’s mercy and grace to forgive. Jesus died for our sins—past, present and future.
Life-changing choice begins when we lay it all on the table. Sacrifice all. Change all. Give up all of ones self for Jesus, because He is love.
But that means change, and we don’t like the pain of change. And that’s the dilemma.
We don’t comprehend there’s only one place real love abides.
It’s more fun, in the beginning, to live life on the playground. Riding the thrill rides, pretending to be happy, but our souls sob for true love.
The pristine beaches of Pensacola, this week were the perfect example of this evil delusion. Thousands of students invaded the sandy beaches, committing in broad daylight unspeakable acts of lewd, drunken, lust filled behaviors, bringing shame upon themselves, their families, and this nation. Actions I would not begin to describe here. If you watched Fox News you saw the account.
Yet these young people were too consumed with vile amusement and alcohol to understand the impact of their choices. Their mouths hurled vulgar disrespect toward their parents and their own bodies. And their images will be forever recorded on social media.
And their parents footed the bill.
Yes, this rebellion began in the garden, long ago. But the same act is repeated every day in the majority of households throughout our land by parents refusing to parent. Refusing to follow God’s guidelines for health, happiness, and holiness. Refusing to remember their child has only one mother and father—the child doesn’t need another friend.
Lyin’ in bed on Sunday morning, mom and dad, you hear the voice inside saying: “Sunday is my only day to sleep. I’m tired and I need rest. I’ll take the kids to church next week. But next week never comes.
Because it’s easier to listen to the alluring images of our illusions than to get excited about getting up, showering, dressing, and going to listen to the choir and the preacher at the local church.
So we roll over and go back to sleep. Unaware we’ve just missed the intersection leading to light, life, and love. And Truth.
We crawl out of bed an hour or two later, still tired and irritable, to face mountains of dirty laundry, whiny children or hormonal teens, and a husband more frustrated than we are. And another day of turmoil and chaos begins—just like yesterday, but ratcheted up a notch.
And we’re tired because we’ve vicariously tried to escape. Seeking love in the latest block-buster movie, on evening soap operas, or indecent sit-coms that proclaim immorality and abomination and have no business in the home. Entertainment that day after day teaches children and teens, luring them into the deceptive trap that played out on the Florida beaches this week.
Unaware a battle rages for our families and our lives. A battle between love and hate. Between God and Satan.
Satan has thrown off the disguises he’s worn for centuries and launched a frontal attack on God, marriage, the family, the Bible, and Christians. The world is in a free fall and this roaring lion roams the earth seeking souls to devour. And you and your family are on his menu.
And we still have no appetite for the answer. And our children have no conception of sin or the fact their sins offend a holy and righteous God. And they don’t understand God calls them to be holy. They don’t believe those who reject Jesus will spend eternity in a real place called hell—separated from God and the love of a Savior who died so they don’t have to. Because we didn’t teach them.
But you can’t teach what you don’t know.
While there’s time, because Jesus is coming soon, please pick up your Bible, turn to the Book of John and begin reading the exciting news of Jesus’ love. And Sunday, when the alarm goes off, determine beforehand to get up and go to the nearest gathering place of love—your local church. No, those who attend aren’t perfect, but God is there and He’s still working on all of us.
If you come seeking Jesus, He will write His love story in your heart, in your family, and for your future.
I know, because He did that in my life one Sunday in January of 1989.
“Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers praise glorifies Me. And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:22-23 NKJ).
MOVING THE ANCIENT BOUNDARIES 