Honor and Lust: a Recipe for Headaches

I'm a Christian. As a Christian, I firmly believe that the Bible is perfectly capable of holding sway over every facet of human behavior. There's no sense in being coy on my first real post, is there? So, at the outset, that is one of my beliefs. That said, I also believe that it's the joy of every Christian to be responsible in their study of the Bible. That involves banging your head on the coffee table for the six hundredth time because you simply can't understand what in the world the book is talking about. I recommend carrying Tylenol in your Bible case. Today I was wrestling with one text in particular (I had retreated from the others that were giving me a hard time).

I'm a Texan and I like to consider myself "raised right". My mama done taught me how to treat a lady, is what I mean. Maybe that's why this verse stood out so starkly to my eyes. 1 Peter 2:18 commands us to "Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." While I'm sure that a good, sturdy preacher could take that verse and preach for a couple of years (how good of an idea would that be?). But I'm just going to chip away a little piece of it right now. And this is something that directly applies only to guys.

So, we're to honor all people yes? I'm trying to see how this saturates my own life. Surely it also implied that we stop doing that which is dishonorable to all people. Now here's where men struggle so desperately. Lust is dishonoring to a woman. That is, of course, a gross understatement. 1 Timothy 5:2 says to treat women like family, in all purity. I have a sister and a mother. I can understand what the Bible means here. How do I treat them? I love them. I safeguard them. I show respect and sensitivity. Obviously, I don't always do this. But as I'm maturing more and more as a man, it's becoming easier to treat them this way. Ideally, this is how I should treat every woman right? That's how men are supposed to treat women, according to the Word of God. But lust rots those duties away. Lust dissolves the shape of a gentleman's heart and leaves what was there before: a twisted heart that constantly needs renovation. When I think about, what is more dishonorable to a woman than ruthlessly judging her like a piece of meat? And she isn't even aware of it. Yet the degradation remains. A Christian guy may hold open a door for a girl, but if he doesn't battle to rein in his sinful impulses all of his chivalry is a fake, filthy double-minded disaster. I think that's a little of what the Bible means when it condemns the double-minded man. The tendency to compartmentalize my fight with sin for the purpose of justifying my lenient lack of shame is nothing more than double-mindedness. I have a mind to kill my sin and I have a mind to live and let live.

And what about spitting in front of girls? Is it honorable to them to have to see me do that? Do you see what I'm getting at? The Bible is so all-sided! A verse that doesn't even speak on lust can knock me around and soak deeply into my heart. This is something I think John Piper is so extremely efficient at: seeing how far into our lives the Bible reaches. There really is no limit. We just have to wrestle with the text to find it out. Coffee helps. :O)

Keep struggling with your Bible!