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Blazing Grace Newsletter, April 2005
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* The Journey Home
* The Numbers
* An Effective Weapon in the Battle for the Hearts of Men
* Prayer Requests
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The Journey Home
by Mike Genung
And Jesus said, "A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! `I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."' So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. "And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, `Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.
Luke 15:11-24
As I read through the story Jesus told of the prodigal son, I see four places the lost one visited on his way home:
His first stop was Sin City, where he “squandered his estate with loose living.” From Luke 11:30 we know the prodigal son “devoured his father’s inheritance on prostitutes”; he went after sexual sin with everything he had, with no regard for the consequences.
I’ve been to Sin City (no, I’m not talking about Las Vegas). When I was in my early 20’s I got into drugs, pornography, sex with prostitutes and promiscuity; I wanted it all and it didn’t matter who got hurt. I jumped into an adulterous affair with a married mother of three children, and she divorced her husband of more than 10 years. Three kids lost their father because of me. I was blind to what I was doing, and sex was all that mattered; life was all about me.
But the problem with sin is that it never satisfies. It’s always fun and exciting at first, but in the end there is emptiness, shame and a sense that something’s missing.
The second stop on the prodigal’s journey was the pig farm. Pigs like to soak in the mud and they don’t care if the other pigs see them. We Christians are a little different. We don’t want others knowing we’ve been wallowing in the mud, so we wait until no one’s looking before we enter the pig pen.
After I left Sin City I started trying to clean up my life. I walked away from drugs, and
stopped dating girls who weren’t Christians. I started going to church and got involved in ministry as a lay counselor; I was doing everything a good Christian is supposed to do. Others noticed, and complimented me on what a good person I was. I’m on the right path, I thought.
But they didn’t see the times when I took off my mask and jumped into the mud of pornography, alone. The truth was I was relying on how good I could be, and I was sitting on a fence far away from home, unwilling to choose between God and sin.
After the Prodigal Son “came to his senses,” he started the journey home. We know he was in a “distant country” so he had a long way to go. On his way to Sin City he probably road a horse, but after losing everything he would have walked home, alone. It must have been a lonely, intimidating, and confusing journey.
After I’d had enough pain, emptiness and misery from being in the mud, I made the choice to start the journey home to God. Walking without the crutch of sexual sin forced me to face my weaknesses, hurts, misconceptions and failures instead of running from them, which I’d done in the past. I saw that I had Christianity backwards; all my life I’d thought that if I could know enough Bible, do enough good works, and hang with the right Christian crowd I would be good enough to be accepted and loved by God and others.
I knew a lot about God, but I barely knew Him.
As the Prodigal Son approached home he was filled with shame and remorse. He knew his father was aware of his time in Sin City and the mud pit, so he started rehearsing a speech, hoping to find some way to appease his father. He expected his father’s reaction to be one of condemnation, furious anger, and rejection. After he’d spent years away from home and engaged in so many wretched, sinful acts, how else could his father respond?
But as soon as his father saw his son he ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. The son started to recite his canned speech, but his father wouldn’t hear of it; he put a new robe on him and threw a big party, complete with a Texas sized barbeque.
When I realized I had been searching for God’s love in sex, I went after Him as hard as I used to go after lust. To my surprise, He revealed Himself to me with open arms, and He filled my heart to overflowing with the deep joy and peace I’d sought all of my life but never believed I could find. Living in grace is infinitely better than floundering in the mud, and today I can accept who I am, flaws, failed past and all, because He does.
If you’re living in Sin City or hiding in the mud today, my plea to you is to start the journey home. A Christian sex addict is someone who tries to have God and sin; since the Lord won’t be a sidekick to lust, we have to choose which one we want.
Before more people get hurt, please, set your mask aside, and come home.
If you’ve left the mud pits but are feeling lost, remember you can’t make the journey alone - we need others to point the way home. It’s not that people are the answer, but God uses other broken clay pots to share our burdens, encourage us, and point us in the right direction.
The good news is that no matter what you’ve done or how badly you’ve messed up, our Father is waiting for you to come to Him so He can give you new life. He’s got your party planned, set up, and ready.
If you want to know more about what the journey home is about, see what to do and theanswer.
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The Numbers
Next to the home page, the page that gets the most visits at the blazinggrace website is the one on masturbation.
I never imagined this page would get the most attention, but it makes sense because there’s little written about the subject, even in books written about sex addiction.
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An Effective Weapon in the Battle for the Hearts of Men
One of the most effective weapons in the war against pornography is for churches to have Christ/grace centered support groups for those who struggle with sex or porn addiction. Men need a safe place where they can share with others who have the same issues; this battle can’t be won in isolation. One of the goals of the Blazing Grace ministry is to help churches and individuals set up their own group. If there isn’t a support group in your local area, there should be. All surveys show that at least half of Christian men have a problem with pornography.
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Prayer requests:
Please pray for Paul, Steven and Drew who are setting up groups in their respective states. John’s group is up and running.
Please ask the Lord to encourage churches everywhere to speak out clearly on porn/sex addiction, and ask that many support groups for the sexually broken would be set up across the nation.
May God’s grace abound to you.
Mike Genung
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All material copyright 2005 Mike Genung
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