Just Say No To Sexual "Drugs": Save Your Testimony By Staying Clean And Sober

At UFC 183, one of my favorite UFC fighters made a comeback after suffering a leg injury that would have ended anybody else's career.  For those of you who didn't see the injury, it was a real-life version of the shin-breaking ending of the last fight in "Undisputed 3."  At one point, most people, myself included, considered this former champion the G.O.A.T. (i.e. "Greatest Of All Time") of MMA.  However, his triumphant return fell under the dark shadow of failed PED tests when it was revealed that not one, but two of his drug tests came back positive for steroids (see the click below):

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/anderson-silva-fails-ufc-183-fight-night-drug-224159984--mma.html;_ylt=A0LEVynCS.ZU4tkAdNpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzZDQ3cWVzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVklQNTY1XzEEc2VjA3Nj 

Ironically, if Anderson Silva had fought his opponent and lost, but tested negative, his legacy would still be intact.  But now, everything that "The Spider" has accomplished in MMA is irreparably smeared due to poor decisions made at the tail end of an otherwise glorious career.  Likewise, if we, as Christians, lead many people to salvation through the gospel, but are exposed for taking the sexual "steroids" of immorality, our godly witness will be irrepairably damaged.  In fact, this already happened to the man who was "after God's own heart": King David.  The valiant shepherd boy who slew Goliath and became Israel's greatest king is also known as the guy who seduced Uriah the Hittite's wife, knocked her up, and killed her husband to avoid scandal.  King David took his wickedness to an extreme, but the reality is that ANYONE can fall into sexual sin.  Any man or woman who doesn't believe that they can fall into sexual sin has severely underestimated their greatest opponent: their own heart. 

My worse fear is that, as I seek to honor God by staying a virgin before marriage, I will screw up in a really big way and destroy my ministry before it even begins.  I know that, under the right circumstances, the wrong woman can turn me out and make me look stupid in front of the people I am trying to reach for Christ.  I also know that this temptation won't stop even after I am married, which is why I won't ever hang out alone with a woman who isn't my wife, mother, or, if I am blessed with children, my daughters.  The last thing I need is a mistress going to my future congregation and saying:

"Hi everybody!  I am your pastor's mistress!  I rode your minister like a male harlot!  Giddity, giddity, giddity!" (Insert female version of Quagmire's voice from "Family Guy").

DON'T do sexual steroids.  This includes any kind of immorality, even that porn habit that you only indulge in "once in a while" (which we both know is really every night, and ladies, novels like "Fifty Shades Of Grey" count).  Lay off the drugs of forbidden desires and fight clean and sober for Jesus!  

Numbers 32:23 "But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." (NIV)

Last Man Standing: My Decision To Stay The Course, No Matter What

Last week, I was seriously wavering on the issue of purity.  Due to bitterness over the fact that I am nowhere near where I expected to be in my late twenties, and am in no position to support a girlfriend, much less a wife and children, I began to wonder what was the point.  Why pursue a dream that is never going to happen?  More importantly, why avoid a life of hedonistic pleasure if my desire to serve God will never be blessed?

Fortunately, I came to my senses and remembered that that life of "hedonistic pleasure" leads to death, divorce, or Baby Momma Drama.  I also remembered that God always blesses a servant who seeks Him with all His heart, even if that doesn't happen in this life.  So for that reason, I have decided to stay the course, remain a virgin until marriage, and use my chastity to lead others to a saving relationship with Christ, no matter what happens in my life.