[Discoveries] 05-07-07 Cheap substitutes

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

A friend has graciously loaned us a van for several months, but the time 
has come for us to move forward with purchasing it. Although we've raise 
some funds to buy it, another $4,000 would enable us to complete the 
purchase. I'm not exactly sure how the Lord is going to supply this. I 
know He can and will, so I'm not worried about it. Here's one 
possibility: I could write a book or a course for you or for someone you 
know for about $4,000. I can also do straightforward web development -- 
nothing too fancy, but basic web design. When our cooking business gets 
going, then we could possibly raise the extra money that way. Or, if you 
have been blessed by these devotionals and want to send a nondeductible 
gift to us on the second column of our support page, that's another 
possibility. _http://www.dwightclough.com/donations.html_ In any case, 
thank you for your prayers in this regard.

/*Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to 
sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual 
lust for more. -- Ephesians 4:19*/

Paul here describes the pagan in a morally corrupt society. But what He 
writes provides some powerful clues as to how Christians can escape 
sexual impurity.

Why do we lose sensitivity? Why do our hearts become hard? If we are 
Christians, it is because we have forgotten, or haven't yet comprehended 
God's great love for us.

How will we take in the love of God?

A rebuke probably won't do it. Someone standing over us saying, "Don't 
you realize that Jesus died for you?" probably isn't going to help. 
There are times when we need to be rebuked, but this is one time when a 
rebuke would probably create outward conformity and inward resentment.

A lecture probably won't do it. We can learn all the theology there is 
to learn, and still be bankrupt in our hearts when it comes to the love 
of God.

No. We must allow ourselves to be loved by God. We must open up those 
hidden places in our hearts and allow the sunshine of God's love to warm 
and comfort us. We must throw ourselves with reckless abandon into His 
arms, knowing that our hands are dirty, but also knowing that He will 
embrace us and make us clean.

When we have not received the love of God, we go looking for comfort in 
the wrong places -- in places that will never satisfy. But I have 
discovered in my own life and as I work with others who are struggling 
to overcome moral temptations, that the longer we bask in the love of 
God, the less these temptations have any power over us.

Be encouraged!
Dwight


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