Pauline’s Notebook

This is an extract from a talk written for the Gracepoint FCG Womens Group. It has being broken down into 4 parts. To continue reading the rest of the talk, click on the link to part III.

The Right Understanding

Worshiping our Creator, by putting our hope and trust in His Word is the first step in living rightly. We need to understand that our Creator is infinitely supreme and nothing compares to His glory, honour and praise! And because He is supreme and all loving, then what He demands of us, is for our greatest joy and delight. He knows whats best for us. Do you trust and believe that your Father in Heaven is supreme and that what he demands of us will be for our joy and delight? Or do you think its more important to trust in what you think is best for yourselves? The mistake is that we say with our lips that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour – but surely it doesn’t hurt to be a bit like the world, to dress for attention and power. Surely, it doesn’t hurt to behave and talk like others - to make snide comments about others – otherwise they’d walk all over us. It doesn’t hurt to be sarcastic because thats what the Aussie culture does. When we do this, we are really saying to God that He isn’t supreme and that what He demands of us in Scriptures are not worthy to follow. So when we dress a certain way, or act a certain way towards the opposite sex, we are saying to Him that our body parts gives us worth and value. Scripture, in contrast to the world’s message will tell you that you are worth more than your body. Your true value is worth more than how you look. In fact, you are worth so much that God gave His Son, Jesus Christ to die on your behalf. Romans 5:6-8 explains it like this…You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly (thats you and me). 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners (while we were self-obsessed with ourselves, and in our quest for relationships), Christ died for us…. Christ died for you and He has risen, to give you a new life. And in so doing, allows you to find your greatest joy and delight in Him alone and in living in the way He demands of you. Even if you have fallen into sexual sins, you will be forgiven if you turn back to God and acknowledge that what you have been doing is wrong and that you have been exchanging the truth for a lie. Ask for forgiveness and He will forgive you (Acts 10:43; Romans 4:7; Heb 8:12; 1 Jn 1:9). Even as forgiven people, the sexual impurities are inherently in us, the Bible assumes that. It’s part of our DNA, just as much as anger or jealousy is a part of our DNA. But as we have being crucified with Jesus and given a new life in Jesus, we can control it and be pure. Gal 5:23 tells us that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit; 1 Thess 5:8 tells us that since we belong to the day let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. God wired it into us as believers. We can train ourselves through regulating what we feed into our brains. If we feed our brains with pornography and fringe sexual practices on TV, we will become more and more dependent on them and will respond less and less to being pure in our relationships. If in contrast, we fill our minds with fun and exciting things, communicating with our family and friends with purity, then we will become more attractive and they will take pleasure in being with us and us with them. Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 tells us of such free and liberated women and how they behave in purity. She is enterprising, and uses the gifts that God gives her in a worthy manner. She complements her husband (and men in general), by utilising and recognising the different roles that they have between men and women, yet also knowing they are equal in God’s sight. A woman is admired when she is pure in heart (that is, not self seeking or doing things for self gain). She is hard working, takes care of those in need, doesn’t give in to idleness or idle talk and loves her family. Above all, she glorifies God and fears Him. You can be an attractive woman, graced with dignity and admired because your graciousness, your compassion, your patience, gentleness, humility and love towards others Col 3:12-14. This is not to say that we don’t care about our outward appearance but rather our inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:4). Whether you are single or in a relationship, these things are to be what we strive for in all our relationships because God is supreme and demands it from us. He does this for our benefit, for us to truly experience ultimate joy and delight in living His way.

To continue reading the rest of the talk, click on the link to part III.