31 Days of Purity—Day Nineteen

Mike Leake

Day Nineteen: Radical Action

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30)

In the context of sexual purity, Jesus lays down the challenge of radical action. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” We understand that Jesus may not be speaking literally, but this does not indicate that he is suggesting something ridiculous. When we accuse him of exaggeration, we minimize the force of his words, and perhaps give ourselves an out. But Jesus is asking a serious question in this text: Do you love your sexual sin enough to go to hell for it?

If you are committed to battling sin, you need to be committed to getting rid of those things that lead you to sin. Don’t toy with sin when you should be running fast and far from it. If your iPhone causes you to sin, cut it off; if your computer causes you to sin, gouge it out. As an integral part of your commitment to sexual purity, as a means of gaining victory, take radical action against your sin. What is God telling you to cut off or gouge out?

Father, I pray that I would have the courage and integrity to take radical action. Don’t let me toy with sin. Don’t let me continue to taste of sin and act surprised when I soon feast on it. Keep me from ever thinking lightly of the very sins that required the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Show me where my patterns of sin are so deeply ingrained that I will need to cut something off or gouge something out for my good and your glory.

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Tim Chalies is husband to Aileen and a father to three children aged 7 to 13. He worships and serves as a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, where he primarily gives attention to mentoring and discipleship. He blogs daily at challies.com, is a book reviewer for WORLD magazine, co-founded Cruciform Press, and has written four books.

Why I Don’t Typically Pray For “A Hedge of Protection”

Mike Leake 6 Comments

“Lord, we pray that you put a hedge of protection around this family.”

I’ve had something similar prayed over me before. And I really appreciate it. But I have a confession to make. The phrase “hedge of protection” makes me laugh. You see, I’m a child of the 80’s and 90’s. When I hear the word hedge I don’t think of a row of thorn bushes–I think of Sonic the Hedgehog. So what I hear when someone prays for a hedge of protection is a group of angry hedgehogs watching out for me like my own personal line of attack dogs.

That is one reason, to my knowledge, I’ve never once prayed a hedge of protection around someone. There is another reason.

Where does this hedge come from?

A hedge of protection has garnered for itself a hallowed place in the halls of Christianese. But I wonder how many people know the origin of this phrase. Similar language is only found in one place, Job 1:10, and here it comes from the mouth of the Accuser.

Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. (Job 1:10 ESV)

The Lord had graciously placed a hedge around Job to protect him from enemies. This was part of God’s blessing on Job’s life. And that is all well and good. In fact I don’t believe there is anything necessarily wrong with praying for a hedge of protection. There are times in my life when I pick up one of the Psalms and pray similarly. There are occasions when it seems as if enemies are all around and I need the Lord’s protection and provision. In times like this a hedge of protection would be quite nice.

The Job 42 Experience

Fast forward in the story of Job for just a moment and allow me a question. Go to the 42nd chapter. All of the suffering has already happened to Job and he’s been given counsel (mostly bad) from his friends. Job had desired an audience with God and he finally got it. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and left him stupefied. Here is what Job said in response:

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Don’t get tripped up on the “despise myself” . Just ask yourself, “Would I like to have a similar experience with the living God? Would I like to be able to say something similar to Job?” To modernize Job, he’s saying something like this:

“You know, I had read about God, I had heard preachers talk about God, I had heard stories about his greatness and his provision and his beauty and wonder and majesty and holiness and love, but now my eyes have seen him. And I’m going to just shut my mouth. I don’t need to have an audience with God and to state my case. I’m sorry for thinking that I had a case. The Lord is holy. I am not. I will repent in dust and ashes”.

We talk all the time about having a deeper relationship with God, about experiencing Him, about knowing Him more. We want what Job experienced in Job 42.

Now allow me to ask you another question. Would Job have known God in this way if he had still had a hedge of protection around him?

Probably not.

Listen, I’m all for praying that the Lord would protect people and heal people and bless people. But I’m also not God and I don’t know what people truly need. Maybe a hedge of protection is the very thing that is keeping a brother or sister from really seeing and savoring Jesus Christ. Maybe what is needed is the furnace of affliction to remove joy-robbing dross.

I don’t see much biblical basis for praying that a hedge of protection would be put around someone. I might pray something like Psalm 20:1 and end up doing about the same thing. But even there I believe the language is different. A hedge of protection sounds like shielding someone from all harm and all difficulties. And I want that for my kids and for my family. I don’t want harm to ever come upon them. But I also want them to know the beauty and rescue and sufficiency of Christ and that might not happen with a hedge of protection.

So I’ll pray, “Lord protect them” but as I pray that, I’m praying that the Lord would protect them as he puts them (and me) through the furnace of affliction. It’s the only way for us dross-filled sinners to be fit for an imperishable kingdom.

I want a hedge of protection for my family. But I want Jesus more. If I can’t have both I’ll take the latter.

Today in Blogworld 03.18.14

Mike Leake

How Churches Can Care for Their Pastor’s Children

This is helpful.

5 Parenting Opportunities When Our Children Sin

Nobody wants their children to sin. But when they do, and they will, we have an opportunity to bring Christ into the situation.

Dear haters, an apology letter

I really appreciated this from Jon Acuff. It’s an important and healthy distinction to make—not every person that disagrees with you is a hater.

The Missing Jet

This is phenomenal.  (HT: Challies)

Sometimes “Let it Go” is not appropriate:

31 Days of Purity—Day Eighteen

Mike Leake

Day Eighteen: Enjoying the Wife of My Youth

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2)

We hear it all the time, practice “protected sex”! But for the Christian man, protected sex means something much more significant and wonderful than birth control. Enjoying your wife sexually (and inviting her to enjoy you!) is a God-installed sentry for guarding your heart in the fight for purity. Think of it as one of your first lines of defense. God says, “because of the temptation to sexual immorality,” I’m giving you protection—it’s called your spouse. Rather than squandering your sexual desire in pornography and lust, fulfill it by having wonderful, God-honoring sex with your wife. Love her sacrificially and enjoy her often!

And to the unmarried man – “God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), including the power to overcome “the temptation to sexual immorality.” You have not been left without ammunition in the fight! God’s divine power includes the grace to wait patiently for her arrival. Isn’t it just like God to create something we savor and then use it as a shield!

Lord, your ways are magnificent! You gave us marriage to display your character and your care. [For the married man: You gave me a bride so she could be well-loved. You gave me a wife because you care about my weakness. Help me, O God, to cherish this gift and enjoy it often, even today! Not simply because sex protects me, but because the purity of your people glorifies you.] [For the unmarried man: I may not understand why you have given me a sexual appetite without giving me a wife, but I do trust that your power has granted to me all I need for life and godliness. I trust that this includes the powerful to overcome the temptation to sexual immorality. So until the day I can enjoy sex with the wife you provide, I ask that I would be pure.] Amen!

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Today’s post is written by Dave Harvey. Dave is the author of When Sinners Say I Do!