Single & Married Ladies – Tares!

Hi Ladies,

We’ve all heard or possibly even said – “I don’t see what’s so wrong with this.” This statement isn’t just about premarital intimacy but can pertain to any of the actions or attitudes that are restricted or prohibited by God. They are spiritual tares which Holy Spirit through our conscience tries diligently to make us aware of.

But that is precisely the point – we truly don’t see. When our physical person has regained dominance over the spiritual, we can fail to see a lot of things that are happening to us. The dictates of the flesh speak insistently, our perceptions become fractured, and our discernment overwhelmed by the physical when we are not in correct alignment with Father.

With sufficient time and insufficient prayer, we will begin to lose the ability to understand what’s happening to us spiritually. And when we consider engaging in questionable activities we won’t be convicted and repentant, but will instead become defensive of our position, and convinced that whatever we want to do is “really not so bad.”

But this decline of spiritual awareness doesn’t happen overnight. We only need to heed the warning signs. Here are two factors that may be undermining any moral constraints…

PERVERSENESS

Perverseness indicates an impure motive, a behavior which Dictionary.com defines as “turning away from or rejecting what is right, or proper; wicked, corrupt.”

Proverbs 28:6 – “Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.”  

Proverbs 28:18 – “… he who is perverse in his ways will fall at once.”

Perverseness exists in the church in subtle forms but is there nevertheless. A perversity of motives is often expressed by women in our style of dressing, while men do it through physical touch. The sister who always shows a little too much cleavage; the brother whose only form of greeting ladies is to hug them really tight; the girl in the short clinging skirt; or the man who lightly strokes a woman’s hair, or brushes his fingers across her cheek… All are sending sexual messages under the guise of overtly Christian behavior.

The women are, after all, in church. And the man is merely greeting the ladies by crushing their bosoms against his chest or providing solace with his caress. But each of these people is in danger of expressing either consciously or unconsciously, stronger sexual drives than spiritual ones.

DEFRAUD

The next sensual activity to be wary of is called “Defraud” in the KJV Bible:

Mark 10:19 – “Thou knowest the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother.”  

1Corinthians 1:7 – “Defraud ye not one the other.”

Dictionary.com defines this activity as “to deprive of a right, money or property by fraud.” Defrauding occurs when we promise, either verbally or by implication, something that we do not feel, or do not intend to give.

A common manifestation is the fellow whose words “I love you” roll easily off his lips if they’ll get the object of his lust into bed. Many a silly woman has been defrauded by such empty verbiage into thinking that her sexual accommodation would become more than just a one-night stand. Or she’s been defrauded into believing that the man she’s living with will marry her, even though he’s been delaying the trip to the altar for years.

Ladies, however, practice defrauding when we go all out to entice a guy, then turn out to be something quite different than what we pretended to be. Maybe our sweet demeanor masks the fact that we’re actually mean and bossy. Or perhaps he won’t see the real woman until after she’s removed her wig, fingernails and eyelashes, pulled out her falsies, removed the shapewear with the padded bottom, and popped out her bridge. He might feel defrauded!

Perverseness and defrauding are attitudinal transgressions that must be brought under our Father’s control immediately. If not halted, the devolution of our spiritual position in Christ will continue to progress.   It isn’t just about sex…it’s about motives!

More next week – Joy and Shalom!

Jo Lynne Pool