Logan's Lessons - 2
Reflection from 2024-25 - Part 2/4
In struggles with sin, especially those thorns in the flesh which plague a man, he must remember always his identity in Christ as spotless, pure, and without blemish, covered in Christ’s blood and robed in his righteousness.
You are not your sin.
Jesus Christ is your King.
God is your Father.
The truth shall set you free.
The door is open.
It is Satan’s design to entrap you in shame over sin which brings a man to despair and further entraps him in sin. Godly grief from sin strengthens by knowing firmly Christ’s promise to forgive sins, but as importantly he is strengthened in knowing that he has self-control, ruling over his own passions, as a promise through baptism as a gift poured out by the Holy Spirit.
“We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin… For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace”
Selections from Romans 6:4–14
The power of pornography as it grips many young men is no different than other struggles against sin. Its power is in convincing you that you are enslaved to it, rather than being free from sin and a slave to Christ Jesus. In this particular battle, a man needs to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word”
Psalm 119:9
Young men are tempted to worship women, to pine over them and give them their strength.
“Do not give your strength to women,
your ways to those who destroy kings”
Proverbs 31:3
A man learns his dignity and knows that though she needs him, he does not need her. For her sake in being a stable rock and Christ without a wife, only then can he love her with tender headship and sacrifice himself for her without worshiping her.
As a young man, do not pursue a wife; pursue sisters. That is, do not look at young women merely as a potential wife. Instead, get to know them as sisters.
Dance in the field. The right woman will follow your lead.
Sexual desire is merely one very specific form of man’s broader desire to give and receive affection. We need touch both from men (such as father and brothers both biological and by Christ’s blood) and from women (such as from mother, sisters, wife, and in all purity and wisdom others as well). If you do not already have it, seek in wisdom this affection, even as St. Paul commands the brothers “to greet one another with a holy kiss.” Let the reader understand.
“Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings” applies to far more than fornication, adultery, and other sexual sin, and is broader than merely a man giving his strength to his wife. A man needs to be able to not care about the opinions of others. He needs to call out evil when he sees it and to be capable of speaking plainly even when it may offend someone, man or woman.
“The fear of man lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe”
Proverbs 29:25
Part 2/4
To be continued…