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“So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.”

- 1 Peter 1:14-15

 

Men and the Visual

Men and the Visual

Men and the Visual.png

I recently heard a presentation titled “Men and the Visual.” The speaker explained at length how it is natural for a man to respond to visuals. He used a lot of evidence to back up his claim, like how advertisements for products intended for men usually have a woman in them, and he was careful to state that just because men respond to the visual doesn’t justify bad behavior. We live in a fallen world and it is one that will try to fill us up with all kinds of excuses, facts, and reasons for us to behave the way our sinful nature wants us to behave. 

“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.” (Romans 12:2)

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

We might have an intense desire to eat chocolate cake, and if we lived in a world where all we had to do was look around and we would have edible chocolate cake before us, we would desperately need to control our impulses or we would quickly be overweight and find ourselves with many health problems. A desire grows when it is slowly fed over a long period of time. The presenter told a story of a man who once looked up the skirt of a mannequin simply because it was wearing a short skirt; the man couldn’t understand why he did it. My guess is that he had been feeding his sinful desire for a long time. If we deny ourselves these desires then we can gain control over them. If we don’t, we quickly become slaves to our desires. 

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.’” (John 8:34-36)

"We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin." (Romans 6:6)

Don’t let this world fill you up with excuses to give in to your sinful nature. Women are not visuals. They are daughters of God, and men of God need to see them that way. Rather than be a slave to your sin, to your desires, to visuals, be a slave to God and live in obedience to Him!

Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” (Romans 6:16)

 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed

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