Christ begins his teaching about lust with a reference to the law of Moses: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’” As Christ indicates, all those gathered on the mount to hear his words were certainly familiar with this norm. However, Christ’s further words, “But I say to you …,” show that the norm alone was not enough. The norm itself could not change the lustful heart.

***

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ established the “new ethos” by transferring the significance of adultery from the “body” to the “heart.”

+ Christopher West, Theology of the Body Explained

Today I am grateful for:

1. Warm November
2. Morning Rain
3. Plastic Robot

+++

Instead of pretending to be perfectionists … we are content if we are making progress. The main thing is to be growing. We realize that perfectionism is only a result of false pride and an excuse to save our faces. [As addicts] we are willing to make mistakes and to stumble, provided we are always stumbling forward. We are not so interested in what we are as in what we are becoming. We are on the way, not at the goal. And we will be on the way as long as we live. No [addict] has ever “arrived.” But we are getting better.

–”Twenty-Four Hours a Day,” November 24th (Hazelden)

Live Pure or Die

What can you expect to gain by choosing manhood and the purity that goes with it?

By winning this war, your life will be blessed in tremendous ways. Your victory will recover what was lost through sin. Victory will help you …

• regain and revitalize your relationship with God
• regain and revitalize your relationship with your wife
• regain and revitalize your relationship with your children
• regain and revitalize your relationship with your ministry

+ Every Man’s Battle, 93

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be

• lovers of themselves,

• lovers of money,

• boastful,

• proud,

• abusive,

• disobedient to their parents,

• ungrateful,

• unholy,

• without love,

• unforgiving,

• slanderous,

• without self-control,

• brutal,

• not lovers of the good,

• treacherous,

• rash,

• conceited,

• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.

+ 2 Timothy 3:1-7

Today I am grateful for:

1. Dinner
2. Movie
3. Pie

+++

HAIL TO THE SALT BRIGADE!

I’ve got a debt that I carry around
Carry around like a weight

It don’t relieve me to know
That it’s already paid

I’ve been a long, long way from my home
I went the wrong way

Now it seems I’m bound and determined to roam
Roam away

Will you set me free?

+ Mike Roe, “I Buried My Heart at Bended Knee”

—

The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.

+ Psalm 19:8

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