Love Controlled

2 Cor.5:¹⁴ [MSG] “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do.”

By God’s grace, people talk with me freely because they know that I will not judge them. A pastor’s job is very interesting; you cannot even imagine some of the things I hear. But all in all, my first response is usually to laugh.

One man said to me, “Don’t laugh at me but I really need to know.Are you telling me that if I commit adultery God will not forgive me? Is adultery really so grave with God?” When you think like that, you are thinking legalistically. You are thinking according to the law and that is what God has a problem with.

Do you know what the children of Israel used to do? When they want to commit adultery, they would buy their sin offering and drag it to the house of their mistress, tie it outside, go in, and commit adultery. And then slaughter the animal as a sacrifice to God. God is not hungry; the cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him. God says, if I were hungry I would not even have to tell you. God loathes such sacrifices; it is disgusting to Him.

What we have in the New Covenant is not a religion; it is a relationship. And a relationship is built on the interest of the other person. In a relationship where only one person is interested in the other person’s interest, the other person is selfish. Such a relationship will not last. You cannot satisfy your spouse when you are thinking about yourself. You satisfy your spouse by thinking about your spouse. And your spouse satisfies you thinking about you. The number one question on your mind should be, “how would God feel if I do this?” And he said, “God would feel bad.” He was finally getting it.

The next question is, “Is that important to you?” If you know your spouse would feel bad if I do this and then you go ahead and do it, it means your spouse is not important to you. If you know that God would feel bad, then why are you considering it in the first place? The minute you realize the importance of how God feels, the temptation will lose its power over you. Why? The strength of your love for Jesus Christ will give you victory over sexual temptation. The strength to overcome temptation comes from cultivating your love for God.

Prayer [song]: I just want to be where You are, dwelling daily in Your Presence. I don’t want to worship from afar, draw me near to where You are. Amen!