Never Try Too Hard!

I’ve been feeling like quitting school recently! Simply because I just want to spend all hours of my life reading my bible or praying! But then come to think of it…quitting school will mean having to go back home and do nothing? Won’t be able to go to my lovely vibrant church CRC? What about my home cell? Well I could start one back home but I believe that God has placed me right here in Bloemfontein for a reason! I am a student at the University of the Free Stare for a reason. I am studying what I am studying for a reason! Rick Warren says in his famous book, Purpose Driven Life, that we should never confuse activity with productivity! “You can be busy without purpose, but what’s the point”, he states! It is a lovely thing for me to want to spend all the hours of my life in prayer and reading the Word, but God expects me to make use of the education opportunity He has blessed me with! As soon as I contemplate quitting then I am not living in productivity! I thought about it! God gave me 24hours in a day, what do I do with it? I use “wanting to spend every hour in prayer” as an excuse to quit school yet I still have time to stalk and read peoples updates on Facebook? I say that I want to quit school because there’s just not enough time to read my bible yet I can still sit all day busking in the sun with my housemates?  God will never give you more than you can bear! Your responsibilities go hand in hand with your passion and desire for God! Your physical and earthly responsibilities are linked with your spiritual responsibilities!  You don’t have to try too hard to accomplish anything as a Christian living under grace! It’s amazing how in the past I thought everything was complicated! Tried so hard yet still failed! Felt bad and eventually quit! The lesson here is not complicated at all, just don’t try TOO hard! 

Masturbation for an example! The temptation to masturbate as a Christian pursuing purity! Sexologists and people who dedicate their entire life to sex say that it is healthy to masturbate! The bible on the other hand doesn’t really say much about masturbation-well not that I know of yet! It has been said that women tend to get more sexual as they as they near their menstrual cycle and it is only normal to give into to that desire! Well, that is a standard set by the world! What does the bible say? “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Now, as a born again believer do you think that masturbation is the will of God for your life? I am a sexual being, I know how an orgasm feels like and I know the effects of masturbation, but is it pleasing in God’s eyes? I was commissioned to lay hands on the sick who will get well, but what will happen if one of the sick I’ve laid hands on gets into my room and finds me masturbating with the same hand that was laid on him? Not a good sight to see huh? As a chosen child of God you should not settle with what the world says!  God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise! When every “wise or smart” person tries to convince you that you are living an impossible life, that you are not able to stay away from masturbation or sex after you’ve experienced it, tell him that you serve God of the impossibilities! God created my sexuality and He knows that as a sexual being I will be tempted, but He still expects me to be pure because He knows that the glory awaiting is greater than the temptation! That is why every morning I surrender not only my life, but my sexuality, sexual feelings, sexual past and all my sex organs to Him! This is where the part of not trying too hard comes in! 

As we pursue purity we try so hard to stay away from anything that involves sex! Somebody asked me the other day, “Don’t you get tempted?” certainly! But I try not to focus on the temptation! I keep myself busy! But keeping myself busy alone on its own will not help me! I may go around all day cleaning, studying, cooking but if I try too hard I will fail! We fail because we focus more on the temptation than we focus more on God! After giving into the temptation, we convince ourselves that it will never happen again! And then we give in again which eventually leads to giving up on ourselves as conquerors that can rise up against any sexual sin! Where is God in this whole picture? We try so hard on our own forgetting that the temptation will be too heavy for us! There is no way you cannot give into masturbation if you are trying in the physical! The flesh after all opposes your spirit! Your spirit knows that you can overcome the greatest temptation of masturbation but the flesh refuses, it is an enemy to God! An enemy to your breakthrough!  Listen, it is not normal for a born again Christian to masturbate. Masturbation is for mediocre Christians who don't want to soar up in high and holy places!  God did not create you to please yourself sexually, but to be pleased by your husband! I get tempted but I endure it not in my own strength but in the Holy Spirit! I pray about it and I am honest about it! I talk to Him like a friend! “Yoh holy spirit today I am feeling otherwise, but I don’t want to give in! Help me not to give in!” And I’ll find myself drifting away from the temptation but spending time in God’s presence with no burden or a burning desire to masturbate! It comes naturally-I never have to try too hard! The world says that it is impossible not to masturbate but God says that we must not love the things of this world!  1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” It might seem hard but it is not hard at all when you surrender it all to God, the creator of your body! The feelings of masturbation are just for a moment but staying strong against all sexual feelings will have a greater reward! Jesus knows that it is not easy for somebody who knows how an orgasm feels like to choose purity over immorality but standing strong against all odds is a form of worship on its own! Next time when you are tempted, don’t focus on it so much and try to fight the burning desire on your own that you find yourself saying that the Christian life is impossible! Talk to God; let the Holy Spirit do His mighty work in your life! Any form of sexual addiction bows down to the name of Jesus and God will set you free! A masturbation-free life is possible with Jesus!