Adultery and the Lustful Look

# 77 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 3:2 A bishop (pastor) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, (1 Tim 3:2) Let's spend some more time on this qualification of “husband of one wife.” As we said last time, this means that the pastor cannot be taken hold of or blackmailed by others on the score of sexual promiscuity or laxity! In other words he must be sexually faithful to his wife. (if married and be sexually chaste if he is single) There is a line being drawn in the sand here. Remember again the environment of these early church plants. Remember where these recent converts from paganism were coming from! Fornication, promiscuity, sexual laxity of all forms were prevalent in their culture, and in their religion. It is more than likely that these recent converts to Christianity were former adulterers. But these practices were strictly forbidden by the fledgling church of Jesus Christ. NO MORE ADULTERY OR UNCHASTE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR FOR FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST! But wait a minute, Jesus said in Mt 5:28 "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” I hate to say it, but that pretty much reduces the pool of pastoral candidates to zero! So what do we do with that? Well, this lusting is a sin to be sure, so deal with it as you would with any other sin. Confess it, seek to turn from it, and receive God's forgiveness. Fight to remember that behind every set of eyes is a soul that matters to God! This lusting “adultery” is a sin of the heart and only the devil is able to take it and use it to take hold of a person and blackmail them on the score of sexual promiscuity or laxity! If he does, remember your your standing in Christ. The devil may accuse you, but God is not listening to his accusations. Re 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” But there is a sexual sin of lust by which a pastor can be “taken hold of and blackmailed, and that sin is the public sin embodied in what we call pornography. And we'll talk about that next time!