The Benefits of Avoiding Sexual Sin

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

Sexual sin has a high price.  It's better to
read about that price rather than learning the
hard way.

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2006
(Ephesians 5:3, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:2, 10:8,
Galatians 5:19, Colossians 3:5, 1 Thessalonians 4:3)

***THIS IS A MUST READ FOR EVERY PARENT AND
GRANDPARENT, AS WELL AS FOR YOUNG ADULTS!!!

Friends with benefits.  Let me share a fact about
satan with you.  Satan cannot create, he can only
imitate and pervert.  However, satan is very good
at re-packaging an old lie to make it look new.
It would be like getting a present on Christmas
morning, carefully taking off the shiny bow on top,
tearing open the nice wrapping paper, opening the
box inside to find a pair of athletic shoes.  After
your initial excitement wanes, you begin to look
closely at the "new shoes," and come to realize they
are the same athletic shoes you have been wearing
for the past year.  They aren't new, they were just
packaged to look new.  That is exactly what "friends
with benefits" is.  An old lie with a new name.

Friends with benefits is what the young adults
today call a friend that they are having sex with.
It is nothing more than a new label for sexual
sin. In some circles, it refers to a person you are
having oral sex with.  Another common term young
people use today is "hooking up."  It means getting
together for sex.  Hooking up is meeting someone
for no other reason than sex, often not even knowing
the other person's name.

Let me be very clear, there is nothing new about
"friends with benefits" or "hooking up."  They are
simply the newest names for having sex with
someone you are not married to.  It is called
FORNICATION.  Fornication is a word that means ALL
sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage.  That
includes oral sex and any sort of touching.  If you
are having sex or engaging in sexual activity with
someone other than the person you are married to,
it is fornication!  It is clearly defined as SIN in
the Bible.  To see how God feels about this issue,
you should get a Bible concordance and look up the
word "fornication" and read all of the various
scriptures in God's Word that address this sin.

I get emails daily from people, young and old,
asking how "far" they can go with a boyfriend or
girlfriend.  I often remind them how the Bible says
we are to run from temptation, not run to it.
Listen, if you are trying to find "the line", you
have already crossed it.  You are only playing
mind games with yourself.  It is like the moth that
flies near the light.  Ultimately, the moth gets
too close and is killed.  You have to stop sin at
its root, in the heart.  Once you let it go from
your heart to your head, it is already too late.
Once you let it leave your head and actually
start to act out the sin, you are done.

Let me explain why fornication is wrong in very
real, practical terms.  First, it is a perversion of
God's plan for sex between a man and woman. God's
plan was for one man, one woman, one lifetime.  Sex
is part of that relationship between a man and woman.
When you have sex outside of that special union, you
are opening up very special, intimate emotions that
just don't work outside of marriage.  It is a very
special part of the marriage experience and by
perverting that plan, you cheapen it, you compromise
it, and it is never as special as God intended it
to be.

Of course, in addition to that side of the
fornication issue is the reality of sexually
transmitted diseases.  That is a very real byproduct
or consequence of this sinful activity.  Then you
always have the possibility of the woman getting
pregnant.  Again, this opens the door to a plethora
of consequences from abortion, to having a child
out of wedlock, to two people who God never intended
to be married getting married for all the wrong
reasons which almost always ends badly for both
people, to any number of other consequences that can
dramatically change your life.

THERE ARE ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ALWAYS...CONSEQUENCES
FOR SINFUL ACTIVITY.  At some level, you will have
to deal with the consequences if you choose to commit
the sin of fornication.

This issue perfectly illustrates the choices we
have.  If we choose to do it our way, give in to our
physical urges and engage in this sinful activity,
not only do we pay a very high price for choosing to
rebel against God's plan, but the fact is, what we get
for that choice is very little.  I can personally
attest that it is not in any way shape or form worth
the price you have to pay.  However, if we obey God,
do it His way, this can be one of life's great
blessings.  Sex is NOT bad.  God created it.  Enjoyed
in the context God created it to be experienced, it
is wonderful.

You see my friend, God gave us each free will.  We
can choose to do it our way and deal with the
consequences of our rebellion, or do it God's way
and know the blessings of obeying Him.   Often, the
blessings we seek in this life are there for us, if
we will simply be faithful and obedient.  We hold
the key to many of our blessings by simply being
obedient and doing it God's way, instead of rebelling
and trying to do it our way.

I love you, and care about you very much.  I know
this is a difficult issue for many of you, and
many are in the midst of struggling with it right
now.  God's timing is always perfect, and it is NO
ACCIDENT you are reading these words today.  God is
clearly speaking to you.  Again, it is your choice.
I can assure you that as long as you live in
disobedience, in rebellion, continue to sin in this
area, you will continue to struggle, have to deal
with the various consequences of this sinful
activity, and it will keep you from the close,
intimate, daily relationship with Christ He wants to
have with you.

I will be praying for you today.  Friends with
benefits is simply the same old lie from satan with
a new name.  I know for many this is a major
bondage in your life.  With the strength God can
provide and making it a priority, you can overcome
it and see victory.  From my own life I can tell you
this.  If you listen to God, do it His way, it not
only works, but it is incredible.  Why settle for
the scraps this world offers, when we can enjoy
the feast our God has prepared for us.

There is a "friend with benefits" whose name is JESUS.
The benefits are the forgiveness of your sins and life
everlasting.  He is a TRUE friend, with eternal benefits!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell