Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions

“And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.” (John 16:8–9 NLT)

 

Over the next few days, we’re going to look at the nature and work of the Holy Spirit, one of God’s greatest gifts to us. The Holy Spirit performs vital duties in this world. Yet many of them go unnoticed because we simply take them for granted. But it’s important for God’s people to understand and celebrate His work. So, let’s start with this one: The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin.

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me” (John 16:8–9 nlt). The Holy Spirit shows us that we are sinners. He communicates the amazing truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He shows us that we need to turn to God. Without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, none of us ever would have come to Jesus.

That’s why, when I pray for a nonbeliever, I say, “Lord, convict them by Your Holy Spirit.” If I tell someone that Jesus has made my life fuller and better, and that I have joy and peace, they will think, “Well, that’s fine for you.” But what they need to realize is that they’re a sinner in need of a Savior. And that’s the work of the Spirit.

The Spirit convicts us of our sin—not to drive us to despair, but to send us into the open arms of Jesus. On the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter delivered a sermon. Some of the people in the audience were culpable in Jesus’ crucifixion. Acts 2:37 says, “Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’” (NLT). The Holy Spirit was doing the piercing.

The idea of piercing someone’s heart may be a little unsettling—if you imagine the act as an attack with a knife. But what if the blade is a scalpel? And the one wielding it is a highly trained surgeon? And the piercing is a necessary procedure to remove a cancerous tumor? Suddenly the scenario is reframed as a life-giving act of mercy.

So it is with the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. He reveals the ugly truth—that we are sinners, powerless to save ourselves. He reveals the dire consequences—that we face God’s eternal judgment. And then He reveals the life-giving truth—that God made salvation possible through the sacrifice of His Son.

The Holy Spirit pierces our hearts—not to weaken us or destroy us, but to save us. He shows us just how much we need Jesus.

 

Reflection question: What did the convicting work of the Holy Spirit look like in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” (Jeremiah 29:13 NLT)

 

This is a go-to scenario for people trying to poke holes in Christian logic: A person from a remote region, who’s never had any exposure to Christianity or the Bible, dies. What will happen to that person?

I believe that God will judge us according to the light we have received. We will not be held accountable for what we do not know. That, however, does not excuse us from all responsibility. Otherwise, we might say ignorance is bliss.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (NLT). He has hardwired us to know Him. That means from the day we’re born, we’re on a quest, a search to find meaning and purpose in life. God put that restless desire inside us. We were created in His image. We were born with a soul—and an inner emptiness that only He can fill.

And though our internal compass points us toward God, we still go our own way. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:19–20, “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (NLT).

Some people may say, “I have my own standards that I live by.” But I would venture to guess that you probably don’t even live up to your own standards. You violate the rules you think are right.

Others might say, “I’m a sincere seeker of truth. I just haven’t found what I’m looking for.” If you’re a sincere seeker of truth, I believe that you will find your way to Jesus Christ. The Lord said, “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:13 NLT). God will make Himself real to you if you really want to know Him.

Don’t worry so much about the person who’s never heard the gospel. Think about yourself because you have heard the gospel. And knowledge brings responsibility.

For the record, here’s the gospel in a nutshell. We have all sinned. We have all fallen short of God’s standards. There is nothing we can do to meet the righteous requirements of God. God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, to die on the cross for our sin. He bodily rose again from the dead. If we will turn from our sin and put our faith in Christ, we will be forgiven. We can know that we will go to Heaven when we die. And we can find the meaning and purpose we’ve been looking for in this life.

That’s the gospel truth. Now that you understand it, you’re responsible for responding to it.

 

Reflection question: How can you make sure that the people around you understand the gospel? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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“As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?” (Ezekiel 33:11 NLT)

 

How can a loving God send someone to Hell? The short answer is that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell. People send themselves there by the choices they make. The last thing that God wants is for any man or woman uniquely created in His image to spend eternity separated from Him in a place of torment.

Hell was not created for people. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says, “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons’” (NLT). Hell was created for the beings who rebelled against God in Heaven and who work to ruin His plan on earth.

God doesn’t want anyone to go there. That’s why He says in Ezekiel 33:11, “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?” (NLT).

Why do you think God sent Jesus to be murdered in cold blood? Because there was no other way that His perfect holiness and justice could be satisfied. Sin cannot exist in God’s presence. We have all sinned. Hell is the place where God has removed His presence. So, when we die, the only place we can go is to Hell, according to God’s righteous standards.

The only way to satisfy those standards and save us from Hell was to send a perfect sacrifice, a sinless person to take the punishment we deserve, suffer and die in our place, and then rise from the dead to conquer death once and for all.

God sacrificed His own Son so that we would not have to go to Hell. Everyone who receives Christ as Savior and Lord is given eternal life in Heaven, in God’s presence forever. They are saved from Hell. That is our spiritual reality. Anyone who winds up in Hell will be there because they made the choice to go there. No one will end up in Hell accidentally.

Likewise, no one becomes a Christian accidentally. You don’t just wake up one morning and say, “Whoa, I’m a Christian! Praise God! I can’t believe I just said, ‘Praise God.’ I suddenly have this strange desire to read the Bible. It must have happened when I cut through that church parking lot last night.”

You become a Christian because you make a choice to believe in Jesus. Those who go to Hell do so because they made a choice to reject Christ. No one goes to Heaven deservingly, and no one goes to Hell unwillingly. If you end up in that place on that final day, you will have no one to blame but yourself. And you will have to practically climb over Jesus to get there. No, friend, you don’t have to go to Hell. God wants you to join Him for all eternity in Heaven.

 

Reflection question: How can you explain the reality of Hell to an unbelieving friend? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

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“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NLT)

 

You’ve probably heard more than a few objections to the inevitable answer to this question. “How can Christians say that Jesus is the only way to God?” “Are you saying that if someone doesn’t believe in Jesus, then they’re going to Hell?” “Do you understand how narrow-minded that thinking is?” “Why are you so intolerant of other people’s beliefs?” “Why can’t you be more inclusive?”

Let’s get one thing straight. The only reason I say that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father is because Jesus Himself said it. Look again at those words in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (NLT).

In Acts 4:12, the apostle Peter put it this way: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (NLT). Why? Because only Jesus Christ was qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. Jesus Christ—not just a good man, but the God-Man—died in our place and took the full wrath of the Father upon Himself because there was no other way that we could settle the debt that we owed God. Only Jesus Christ could conquer sin and death and make it possible for us to live forever with Him.

Such exclusivity is hard for a lot of people to embrace. Some say, “I choose to believe that whatever religion you want to follow is fine. As long as you sincerely believe, God will let you into Heaven.”

The problem with that reasoning is that Adolf Hitler probably believed in his heart that what he was doing was right. Does anyone want to suggest that his sincere belief should earn him a place in Heaven?

Others say, “I don’t believe that Jesus was God. I believe that He was an influential philosopher and a great moral teacher, but nothing more than that.” C. S. Lewis responded to that kind of thinking with these words: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”

Lewis concluded, “You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus is the only way to God. The Christian faith is built on that truth.

 

Reflection question: What would you say to someone who believes that all paths lead to God? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.” (Psalm 119:67 NIV)

 

If God is good, why does He allow suffering? Chances are good that you’ve heard—and asked—that question before. You may be asking it now if you’re struggling with health issues. Or if you’ve lost a loved one. Or if your marriage is falling apart. Or if you’re having financial difficulties. Or if you’ve watched a natural disaster unfold. Maybe you’ve personalized the question and asked, “Why did God allow that to happen to me?”

Our human intellect and notions of fairness reject the apparent contradiction between a loving God and a world of hate, pain, and misery. The classic statement of the problem goes like this: Either God is all-powerful but not all good and therefore doesn’t stop evil, or He is all good but not all-powerful and therefore can’t stop evil. Whichever way you come down on the issue, the general tendency is to blame God for all the bad things that happen in the world.

The reality is that, in a broad sense, sickness, suffering, disabilities, misery, and even death are the results of sin. Not necessarily the results of a personal sin that someone commits, but the results of the existence of sin. You see, God’s original plan was that these bodies of ours would never wear out. They would never wrinkle….I would still have hair on my head.

But because sin entered the world, we have aging and diminished abilities. We have disease and death. Bad things happen when people make the wrong choices.

We might ask why God didn’t make us so that we couldn’t sin. The answer is that He gave us free will to make our own decisions. In many ways, free will is our greatest blessing and our greatest curse, depending on what we do with it. But God doesn’t want us to love Him in a pre-programmed way. Love isn’t genuine if there’s no other option. God wants us to choose to love Him.

The flip side is that we have the option to make the wrong choice. We can choose to reject God and pursue sin. God will make us aware of our wrong choices. He will show us the paths He would have us travel. But He will allow us to do what we choose.

In Deuteronomy 30:19–20, He says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life” (NLT).

When we choose something other than life, as described in this passage, we open the door to suffering—in our lives and in the world around us. But in His mercy and wisdom, God uses suffering to get our attention and direct us back to Him and the life He offers.

The psalmist wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” (Psalm 119:67 NIV). C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

God works through our suffering to remind us how much we need Him.

 

Reflection question: How has God worked through suffering in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

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“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17 NLT)

 

Over the next few days, we’re going to address some frequently asked questions about the Christian faith. It’s likely that none of these questions will be new to you. You’ve probably heard them—or maybe even asked them yourself—more than once. I want to emphasize that these questions are valid. They often indicate a thoughtful approach to the Christian faith.

But sometimes questions are nothing more than a smokescreen—a way of deflecting the truth of the gospel. They are excuses for not making a decision for Christ. With that in mind, let’s proceed.

In Isaiah 1:18, God says, “Come now, and let us reason together” (NKJV). Christianity is a logical faith. It was only after I became a Christian that the world began to make sense to me. Prior to becoming a believer, I thought that mankind was basically good. And I really struggled with the horrible things that people did to people. But after I became a believer and discovered that the Bible teaches that mankind is sinful, I began to understand. I also discovered that God can change the human heart.

Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean you have to check your brain at the door. Bring your questions, even the tough ones. Find out what God says in His Word. Of course, if we’re going to search for answers in God’s Word, we need to be able to trust it. So, our first question is: How do we know the Bible is true?

We can point to its amazing origin. The Bible is actually sixty-six different books written over a span of 1,500 years by some forty different authors from every walk of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, and scholars. Yet every one of them wrote about the same theme, God’s redemption of mankind. Because God Himself directed their words.

We can point to archaeology. For many years, scholars used archaeology to argue that the Bible was unreliable. They could find no evidence of certain names, places, and events mentioned in Scripture. As archaeologists uncover more and more of the ancient world, however, they are discovering that the Bible is quite accurate.

We can point to prophecy, specifically prophecies about the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies—including being born of a virgin, being born in Bethlehem, and being crucified—centuries after the prophecies were made.

Perhaps most importantly, we can point to what the Bible says about how to know God and how to live in these troubled, crazy times. It’s the only book that speaks with authority in this realm. And it’s the only book whose promises resonate deep within us. Ultimately, the best way to discover that the Bible is true is to experience its truths in your own life.

 

Reflection question: How have you experienced the Bible truths in your own life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17 NLT)

 

The tenth and final commandment stands apart. While the other commandments, to a large extent, deal with what we do outwardly, this one deals with what we do inwardly. While the other commandments deal primarily with actions, this one deals with a state of mind and heart.

A Roman Catholic priest who heard the confessions of thousands of people said he listened to folks admit to sins of almost every kind, including adultery and even murder. But he could not recall even one person who confessed to the sin of coveting. Maybe that’s because no one knew what it was.

Coveting is looking at something, admiring it, and essentially taking it. For instance, let’s say your friend has a car. You say, “I like that car.” That’s not coveting. You say, “I want a car like it.” Still not coveting. You say, “I’m going to buy a car just like it.” Still not coveting.

You say, “I want your car.” That is a problem. You say, “I’m taking your car.” That’s coveting—and grand theft auto, in this case. It is taking something that belongs to another. Something that was never meant to be yours.

You’ll notice that the commandment says, “You must not covet your neighbor’s wife.” It’s not wrong to want a wife or a husband, but it is wrong to want someone else’s wife or husband.

Second Samuel 11 tells the story of King David and Bathsheba. David saw Bathsheba bathing, asked about her, and discovered that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s loyal soldiers. David demanded that Bathsheba be brought to him. He coveted her—and thus began his downfall.

He committed adultery with her. He arranged for her husband to be killed in battle. He tried to cover it up by lying. David set in motion a series of broken commandments when he coveted. He, like everyone else, discovered that keeping the Ten Commandments is practically impossible.

And that’s the point of them. How many of the Ten Commandments have you broken? Have you misused God’s name? Have you failed to honor your father and mother? Have you stolen anything? Have you lied? Have you committed adultery? Have you coveted? If so, you experienced the need to repent and ask God for forgiveness.

The Ten Commandments aren’t intended to frustrate us or make us miserable. They’re intended to show us our need for repentance and forgiveness. The Ten Commandments weren’t given to try to make us holy. They were given to show us that we can’t be holy through our own ability. We are all guilty before God.

The good news is that when Christ died on the cross, He atoned for every broken commandment. He took our penalty and our punishment on Himself. He died in our place so that we can be forgiven.

 

Reflection question: How would you explain the Ten Commandments to someone who doesn’t know much about them? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16 NLT)

 

Strictly speaking, this commandment originally focused on perjuring yourself in a judicial trial. Yet it certainly applies to lying in general—something the Bible addresses in no uncertain terms.

In Proverbs 6:16–19, God says, “There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family” (NLT). Of the seven things God hates, two of them involve lying and falsehood.

Why does God hate them? Because lying is incredibly destructive. Proverbs 25:18 says, “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow” (NLT).

Lying is insidious because we can convince ourselves that it’s a victimless crime. We lie to save face. We lie to keep from offending others. We lie because it’s more convenient than telling the messy, complicated truth. But those can’t be harmless offenses because they violate God’s ninth commandment.

That commandment also covers gossip and backbiting. Gossip topples governments. It wrecks marriages. It ruins careers. It destroys reputations. It causes nightmares. It spawns suspicions. It generates grief. That’s why Proverbs 20:19 warns, “A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers” (NLT). That includes seemingly well-meaning Christians who share details about other people’s lives and say, “This is just so we know how to pray for them.”

The commandment covers flattery, one of the most subtle forms of deceit. Someone once said that flattery is saying things to a person’s face that you would never say behind their back. It’s tempting to use flattery to get something from someone. But if you don’t sincerely mean what you say, it’s just another form of lying.

The commandment applies to exaggeration. Some people argue that exaggeration is simply a storyteller’s tool—a harmless trick to make the mundane seem a little more interesting. In other words, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. The problem with exaggeration is that if we can’t be trusted to be accurate and truthful in the minor details, how can we be trusted when it comes to the major ones?

The ninth commandment presents a challenge for many people because it involves the tongue. James wrote, “We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue” (James 3:3–8 NLT).

But that should never stop us from trying—especially where the ninth commandment is concerned.

 

Reflection question: Which of the areas covered by the ninth commandment presents the biggest challenge to you? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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“You must not steal.” (Exodus 20:15 NLT)

 

Several years ago, I got a call from my credit card company. They said, “Mr. Laurie, have you been in India lately making any purchases?” I said, “No, I have never been to India.” It seems that someone had gotten my credit card number and gone on a spending spree. Later, it was determined that the theft was an inside job. Someone who worked for the credit card company had given my information to someone else.

We’re living in a world of theft. Of course, some people are better at it than others. A man in Miami tried to rob a deli, but the owner broke his nose by hitting him with a giant salami. The man fled the scene and hid in the trunk of a parked car. The car belonged to an undercover police team that was trailing a different criminal. After five days, the officers heard the man whimpering in the trunk and arrested him.

A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire, robbed a local convenience store and got away with a pocketful of change. He didn’t realize that there were holes in his pockets. Police officers followed the trail of coins leading to his front door and arrested him.

Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a twenty-two-year-old man in an airport hotel after he tried to pass two counterfeit $16 bills.

The apostle Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4:28 would have been helpful to these would-be criminal masterminds. “If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need” (NLT). In other words, stop taking and start giving.

Jesus gave similar counsel to Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was a Jewish man who worked as a tax collector for the hated Romans. (You can imagine how popular he was among his fellow Jews.) Not only did Zacchaeus collect the exorbitant taxes demanded by Rome, but he also tacked on extra fees to line his own pockets. And no one could do anything about it because he had the power of Rome to protect him.

One day as Jesus was passing through Zacchaeus’ hometown of Jericho, He spotted the tax collector. Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ home. That displeased the good people of Jericho, who didn’t think Jesus should mingle with such a notorious thief. But after spending some time with Jesus, Zacchaeus made a public announcement. “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” (verse 8 NLT).

From this story and Paul’s words to the Ephesians, we find the ideal response to the eighth commandment. One, don’t steal anymore. Two, do something useful. God honors honest, hard-working people. Three, share with others.

“You must not steal” is only the starting point. The way you define what’s “yours” will go a long way toward determining the way you live out your Christian faith. And in that sense, giving is always better than taking.

 

Reflection question: What would doing something useful and sharing with others look like in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."

All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie.

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“You must not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14 NLT)

 

What is adultery? The writers of the New Testament use the Greek word porneia, which translates to “pornographic” or “immorality.” The word refers to adultery, which is extramarital sex. It refers to fornication, which is premarital sex. It refers to homosexuality. It refers to incest, molestation, and even bestiality. All these things figure into the seventh commandment. God is saying, “You must not do this.”

Imagine what kind of world we would live in today if this single commandment was obeyed. How many marriages would still be intact? How many fathers would still be at home? How many divorces would have been averted? I believe that historians and sociologists looking back on our era one hundred years from now will say that we were a culture obsessed with sex.

Having said that, though, I must also emphasize that sex is not sinful in and of itself. Remember, God created sex. But why? Some would say for procreation. Period. That childbearing is its only purpose. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible makes it clear that God gave us this wonderful, pleasurable expression of love to be made from a man to a woman and from a woman to a man within the safety of a marriage relationship. Any other variation of it is wrong.

When a man and woman have sexual relations together, a oneness takes place. Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthians 6:15–18: “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, ‘The two are united into one.’ But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body” (NLT).

So, no one can say, “It was just a one-night fling. It didn’t mean anything to me.” That’s not what the Bible says. No one can say, “As long as it’s between two consenting adults, no one gets hurt.” The Bible teaches that every time we commit sexual sin, someone else gets hurt.

One day, if you live a long life, you may be sitting in a rocker on the front porch of a retirement home, thinking back on your days. In that moment, I don’t think that you’ll care all that much about how successful your career was, or what your income level was, or how great your accomplishments were. But you will celebrate the fact that you were faithful to your spouse and that your marriage stood the test of time. And in that moment, you’ll know why God gave you the seventh commandment: “You must not commit adultery.”

 

Reflection question: What steps do you take to stay faithful in your relationship? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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