Do you wear a silver cross around your neck? Have a fish bumper sticker on your car? Carry your Bible everywhere you go?
When my granddaughter chose cross-embossed boots instead of fancy-stitched alligator, she saw them as a Christian symbol. Yet today, people who do not even profess to be Christians are wearing crosses on everything from boots to belt buckles. Many people who choose designer clothes with crosses have no idea the cruelty and humiliation that a cross really symbolizes, nor do they comprehend the glory of the cross. So what sets a Christian apart? It's no longer a simple symbol.
A Christian's life is not cheap. We were bought at a price. The price was the life of Jesus. He suffered and died a cruel death upon a cross for those who want eternal life. He gave Himself willingly, obediently to redeem us from our sin. Our bodies are not our own--they belong to God. So often we live as though our freedom in Christ affords us the liberty to live as we choose, for whatever pleases us. We take for granted the cross that held our Savior, and compromise the cross we take up daily as Christians. When Jesus carried His cross to Calvary, He didn't carry it privately, He carried it publicly.
Isn't it amazing that something as private as sexual purity glorifies God? Who knows but you and your Lord? It's not like you stand in the middle of Main Street, USA and announce it. But do people close enough to know the real me, know Christ is my Lord? Do they know He's more than my Savior? Do I honor and glorify Him with faithfulness and purity? Or do I find pleasure in things that devalue my witness to the world? Do I set an example for the young people in my life with how I talk, dress, and live? with what I watch and listen to?
There's not a moment goes by that someone isn't tempted to give in to the world's standards. Sex is exploited in every commercial from jeans to hamburgers. It's trivialized in pop culture and de-moralized in Planned Parenthood clinics. Is it not imperative that we pray for our children? our grandchildren? The friends of our children?
What do you think? Are we any better than the promiscuous young person today if we support the companies, food chains, and movie stars who advertise and glamorize pre-marital, adulterous lifestyles? Do we condone this with our silence?
Pray that teenagers wait till they are married for sex. Pray for parents to guide them and guard them with vigilance and edifying advice from God's Word. Pray for better examples who glorify God with their bodies. It's the least we can do, since our body is not our own, don't you think? selahV
