Hebrews 11:8 (NLT)
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

Our life is like that – we start out, we go, we’re just not sure where we’re going really, just that it assuredly ends in death of the body. What we do along the way though…. Oh man, I NEVER thought it’d be like this. I ask forgiveness for the people I’ve hurt along the way – please forgive me for what I did when I hurt you. I do wish I had a redo button.

I do enjoy the ride a whole lot more knowing that there’s direction, a calling to a better path. I left the self centered, self absorbed me behind (kinda, though it still grabs me regularly) without knowing where I was going to. I live in confidence, asking the Holy Spirit to make me other centered, to take away my nature to sin, to make me more like Jesus in how I think, what I do, and why I do it. I am at peace though knowing how I’m leaving someday. I live knowing that there is forgiveness, though peace comes slowly there as who I’ve been has shaped who I am.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-5 (NLT)
4 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

Funny how the sexual sin sticks around. Funny how these old words are tied to the modern scientific evidence of how the brain reacts, the chemical changes, the physical changes. Porn creates the same reaction in the brain as crack (cocaine, not plumbers). It supports the prudence of staying away from porn or hopping from one bed to another. Must be a coincidence.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NLT)
15 With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.

There’s a moral foundation that God brings to us. It’s been a fight to have it heard, it’s been a fight to have it define humanity and the fight has won ground. It’s about living for others instead of self. The goodness in the world is Christ based – it was in the Old Testament on how to treat others, it just wasn’t lived to well. Christ came and changed the direction of the world. I defy any atheist to deny that. Now, the west denies Christ while claiming His love as human nature. Been there, done that. I know my heart and need it changed by Him. You?

Isaiah 58:6-7 (NLT)
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. 7 Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”