OK,

I know that we are quick to quote that we are not to judge (Luke 6:34), but all things need to be said, used, taken within context.  We are also told to use discretion (Proverbs 2:11) and discernment (Ecclesiastes 8:5) and so, when it comes to judging (situations more than people), I try to keep that in mind when applying John 7:24 (NKJV) into my daily walk:

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

That’s my biblical backing (and I’m sticking to it) to support what I am about to say.

Earlier this week, I was reading a story on People.com about Kendra Wilkinson getting married.  If you don’t know who she is, she’s one of Hugh Heffner’s, uh, co-stars on E! Television’s “The Girls Next Door”.

You know, it’s always intrigued me how human nature basically wants to do whatever it wants, overlooking the laws that God set in place (I Corinthians 3:19), and yet still has a desire for faith-based unions like marriage.  Isn’t it weird how so many people rationalize (BTW, one of my favorite quotes of all time is, “Rationalize is also spelled rational-lies”) fornicating, homosexuality, living together, etc. with “It’s my life” and the marriage certificate being “just a piece of paper” as their defense and yet, at the end of the day, most people still want that piece of paper?  They still want the covering that God’s creation of marriage intended?  I guess that’s why the Bible says that the spirit lusts against the flesh (Galatians 5:17), huh?  Seemingly, until Christ returns (more specifically, until we are sealed in the final judgment), there will be a part of us that wants to grow close to what’s right…now matter how far left we may have gone from it.

Anyway, it wasn’t so much Kendra getting married that tripped me out.  Maybe she’s tired of sharing a man…I can definitely relate.  It was actually what her fiance’ said when it came to his relationship with Hugh Hefner:

“Hef is like a father to her so he’s going to be the one to give her away,” Baskett told an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia Tuesday. “That’s why I wanted his blessings and her mom’s blessing.”

Umm…the man who was sleeping with (and, I’m using that phrase loosely) your soon-to-be-wife is like a father to you?  You want his blessing?  WOW.  Life can bring about so many contradictions.

A father looks out for his children whether it’s the virtue of his daughter or the integrity of his son.  A father sets a good example of what it means to be a provider and protector of the home (this includes spiritually).  But most importantly, a father is supposed to be a child’s first introduction to what God, our father, is like.

That probably explains why so many of us tend to either not have, or experience a poor example of an earthly father.  I think the Enemy knows that if he can steal that from us (John 10:10) as a young person, then it will be all that more challenging loving, reverencing, understanding, obeying, trusting God as an adult.  When you don’t have a clear perspective on who God is, it’s that much harder to serve him.

This all made me think about one of the last porn flicks I ever saw.  One of the guys in it had a cross around his neck.  The girl was screaming “Oh God!” (Is it just me or is that what most of them say in pornos?)  WOW again.  The Bible says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19).  In the Christian world, the cross symbolizes salvation.  One of the Ten Commandments tells us not to take God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7)…as a matter of fact, the New Century Version of Exodus 20:7 says that those who do abuse his name, “…the Lord will punish anyone who misuses his name.”  Look at all of the contradictions…all of the ones that non-believers have grown accustomed to living with, and I fear, believers are getting far to used to as well. (Because we all know that it’s not just “the world” that’s fornicating…that’s practicing homosexuality…that’s shacking up…that’s watching porn.—Romans 1)

I know I’ve shared several times before that one of my favorite quotes on sex is by M. Scott Peck…on how since sex is the most spiritual experience most of us will ever have, most people so desperately chase after it not realizing that what they are actually looking for is not sex, but God.  Sex is so powerful.  I wonder when we will start reverencing it as such.  Perhapsh that’s why the Enemy tries his hardest to make our first introduction to sex a poor one as well…so that we won’t value the purity, the sancitity, the sacredness…the PURPOSE of it.

I think what NFL star, Hank Baskett most reminded me of in his statement about Hugh Hefner is that I need to make a DAILY concerted not to get so caught up in my flesh, my thoughts, my habits that it makes me look like a walking contradiction: The man who shared an “almost wife” with umpteen other women and then displayed it on national television…is he a man someone should see as a father figure?  While performing porn, a man is rockin’ a cross and the girl is taking God’s name in vain….should they not be fearful of doing that?  I can use God like a Santa Claus?  I can be “naughty” all year and still expect to get what comes to those who are “nice”? (You do know that Santa Claus is not real right?  That’s kind of my point.)

UGH.  No wonder God said that he can’t stomach those who are lukewarm (Revelation 3:16); no wonder Matthew 7:26 tells us that those who hear God’s sayings and don’t do them are like those who build their house upon the sand…

The “building” could be fame, sex, marriage, money, ministry…whatever, but if you compromised to get it, while you may have it for a time, it won’t be for long…there’s no strong foundation to keep it there—solid and in tact.  Only with God, not just hearing him but obeying him, can things last forever:

“I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”—Ecclesiastes 3:14 (NKJV)

Amen…and amen.