“FOR EVERY BLESSING THERE IS A BOUNDARY”

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord.... . .Flee sexual immorality.” I Corinthians 6:13 & 18.

“How did I get started?” That was my first encounter with a curious five-year-old wondering just how he made his way into this world. Panic riddled my body and brain as I sprayed off the last bit of soap from the mini van and his big wheel. I was being hit with the big question. Parenting had just taken a turn for the worst.

My brain searched frantically for an appropriate response to a toddler’s inquiring mind. I mentally clicked on files and retrieved what Dr. Richard Dobbins said in his book entitled, “Venturing Into A Child’s World:” “When your children become curious, appease their curiosity, don’t arouse it.” Looking down at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed questioner, I responded: “You get started when you’re small.” He looked at me and said, “Oh.” That was it. It was all he needed, and all I could come up with. He quietly mounted his yellow three wheeler and silently rode away into the sunset. My work was ended for that day, but rest for the weary is short-lived.

Several years later he came back to me and said, “Hey Dad, you remember when you told me I got started when I was small? Well, how did I get small?” A simple answer was not going to satisfy his wide-eyed query. We had what would become the first of several father-son chats about the Biblical perspective of “Christian Married Love.”

The apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear when it comes to a proper sexual relationships: “For every blessing, there is a boundary.”

In most modern cultures where sexual mores have blatantly moved towards pagan standards, the doctrine of the sanctity of the body needs to be heard anew within the church. Sexual immorality is still sin, even though it has been justified under every conceivable rationalization.
The question is, “How do I avoid immoral behavior?”

There are two steps that will help for building fences around the most cherished of relationships. The word “flee,” comes from the Greek word, “Fyoo-go,” which has two avenues in it’s definition: the primary root, “to run away,” and the analysis, “to shun.” Two battle plans for managing morality.

WHEN AT RISK, RUN (Genesis 39:1-15): We find our example from the life of Joseph. Joseph was at risk. He was in a country and culture he didn’t know, surrounded by a language he didn’t understand, and thrust into a position of great trust. He had found success and in the process come face to face with it’s seduction.

Thomas Carlyle once wrote, “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.”
Potiphar’s wife took the direct approach. But Joseph didn’t flinch, even for a moment. Without hesitation and being absolutely secure in himself and his God, he responded with equal boldness. There are two distinct reasons why he didn’t yield to moral failure:
First, his loyalty to his master. He said to the woman, “My master trusts me. He has given me responsibility for everything he owns. The only thing that is not mine is you—his wife. I could never betray his trust.”

Second was Joseph’s loyalty to God. “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?”
Potiphar’s wife refused to take no for an answer. She wasn’t about to be ignored, so she pressed Joseph day after day. All his talk about noble reasons for resisting only intensified her determination. Joseph refused to budge. And he is a good example to us all.
Joseph ended up dashing out into the street. What a clear image! What a practical spotlight on truth from Joseph’s life. What strong Biblical counsel. Whenever the New Testament lingers on the subject of sensual temptation, it gives one command: “RUN!!!!!” The Bible does not tell us to reason with it. It does not tell us to think about it and claim verses. It tells us to FLEE!! The command of God is to run! And that is exactly what Joseph did. In the end he suffered for it. But he did the right thing. The lesson of Joseph teaches us when at risk, RUN!
The second avenue for exercising moral muscles is:

WHEN SHAKEN, SHUN (Judges 16:15-16): Psalm 1:1 states in modern language, “In order to stay out of trouble, it is best to avoid it.”

Matthew Henry states: “Samson had been more than once brought into mischief and danger by the love of a woman, yet he would not take warning, but is again taken in the same snare, and this third time is fatal. Lack of moral restraints is one of the things that takes away the heart. This is a deep pit into which many have fallen; but from which few escape, and those by a miracle of mercy, and the loss of reputation and usefulness, and almost all, except their souls. The anguish of the suffering is ten thousand times greater than all the pleasures of the sin.”
Take warning from Samson’s fall. Delilah was trouble, but he just couldn’t muster up the courage to “shun her.” This time it cost him his life. A little shun here and a little shun there and this magnet of immorality could have been resisted.

My encounter with my little boy on his big wheel made way for the moral message, “for every blessing there is a boundary.” Any three wheelers coming your way? Being prepared purges panic. To shun and run is good advice.