***Author’s Note:  I wrote this rant two weeks ago and only now do I have the courage to post it.  Comments appreciated.  My wife and I have been talking late into the night about something lately.  It’s a matter that concerns us deeply…

Little girls with big dreams.

Now they’re big girls with no dreams.

Now they just want to “get married and have a family.”

Dreams? Gone.

Vision? Blurred.

Calling? Shelved.

I call it “The Baby-Shaken Syndrome.”

For the record, there’s nothing wrong with having babies. I want eight.  And two three(!) of my best friends are pregnant right now, and I’m overjoyed for all of them.  Kids are a gift from God, and are totally worthy of being treasured.

But there’s something that distracted young married future-mamas seem to forget:

God gave women the parts to make babies. But God also gave women the hearts to change the world.

Dunno if you’ve noticed or not, but approximately half the population can give birth.

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Last week Jay and I watched The Dead Poets Society, an inspirational classic about a passionate English teacher who motivates his students to appreciate poetry and live life to the fullest.  The teacher, played by Robin Williams, quotes Walt Whitman at one point in the film:

The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

This quote has echoed in my mind since then, leading to a barrage of questions. What is the verse that I am contributing to God’s story?  If my life was to be summed up in one sentence, as they often are even in the Bible, what would it say?  Would it be so ordinary that people skim over it without the slightest vocal emphasis or emotion? Would it create feelings of hope, inspiration, and passion, or ones of frustration, disappointment, and pity?  Most importantly, would it be worthy of the God I claim to serve?  Would it advance His plot and bring Him glory?

The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

What is your contribution?

Michelle

So we’ve learned that lust is a cancer, but it’s treatable and beatable.
Interestingly, the key to beating cancer and lust are one and the same.
And though it’s a lifelong process, it’s actually quite simple- you must starve it.

But you can just try to ‘be good’ and expect lust to go away.

And as I mentioned in this post on masturbation, if you can’t work your way into heaven, then the opposite is true: you can’t work your way out of sin.

We must feed our spirit if we are to develop that strong immune system that’s necessary for wards off the diseased attacks that constantly try to infect us.

As the old song goes, we need to “light the fire again.” It’s the only thing that truly purifies us.

Here are a few ideas…

1. Eat this book.
There’s a great quote about the Bible… “This book will keep you from sin, but sin will keep you from this book.”

Or as Psalm 119 says, “Your word I hide in my heart, so I won’t sin against You.”

Finding it hard to read?  Start by just Getting Your Calories.

2. Cuddle with a Dude.

Okay, not actually. But a pure life does require intimacy with Christ. Worship and pray in a way that draws you close to Jesus. The best way that I’ve found to personally draw closer is through writing and being in nature.

For you it might be rocking out and singing at the top of your lungs. For others it might me quiet times of solitude and meditation. For others it might mean serving the poorest of the poor. For others it might mean taking a long drive and yelling at the top of your lungs.

Figure out how prayer and worship will best draw you closer to the Lover of your very being.

3. Be a gold digger.
Proverbs suggests that we “Seek wisdom like gold and fine jewels.”

This might be books, podcasts, messages and sermons, even (gasp) blog posts.

The Apostle James once said, “Ask God for wisdom, and He’ll give it to you without finding fault. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt.”

Start digging.

4. Buddies!
(anyone else LOVE the movie Heavyweights?!)

This is about intimate friendships and intentional community.

I’m talking Chicken Fried nights that turn into worship nights around a campfire.

I mean sleepovers that turn into all-night talks about things that matter.

I’m thinking dinner dates that inspire everyone at the table to take it to the next level in their relationship with God, their relationships with others, and their passionate pursuit of the dreams and calling that God placed inside them.

I mean living together and working together and ministering together.

5. Getcha Four-eyes On.
Now we’re talking about VISION. Seeing the unseen. Calling it out for what it is. Righting wrong. Being the dreamers of His dreams. The Apostle Paul suggests that we make our calling and election sure.

The disciple Matthew tells us that the kingdom of heaven is violently advancing, and that we should get on board.

As Rick Warren said at Catalyst two years ago, “if you want to receive God’s blessing, you gotta get with what God IS blessing!”

So put your spiritual glasses on. Wake up, wake up, open your eyes! As Jesus said to all those who are blind “Receive your sight, and sin no more.”

6. Get reminded.
My buddy Rich and I were sitting at his cottage once and he was explaining to me how Israel’s biggest problem was simply FORGETFULNESS. Do not forget the God of your youth. Do not forget the Saviour who rescued you.

Get accountability. Get people to ASK you the hard questions. And if they don’t… ask THEM why! Bring everything into the light, and keep it there until it’s radiated away. Return to your first love. Be called to account.

7. Stare into the distance.
Oh if only our generation would look down the road and see what’s coming. If we would but stop staring at trees and get a glimpse of the forest. God has plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future, life abundantly, and He PROMISES so!

Yet we grind and pay bills and fulfill visions and missions for others far lesser than those which God implanted on our hearts. To what end? To end life the same place we started, with little or no impact on eternity. Disgrace. Such waste. I suggest another way.

Surround yourself with godly elders, people of the faith who’ve gone ahead and made a difference. Climb on their shoulders and see further. Seek more territory for the Lion and His lands.

(that’s my ineloquent way of saying “get a mentor asap.”)

Okay, that’s my list. If you have any more to contribute, PLEASE comment below and help us out.

For the record, you don’t HAVE to do any of these things. But don’t expect to beat lust or have a fulfilling relationship with God without them. It takes INTENTIONALITY to become a man or woman of God. It takes conscious thought to truly live. Choose THIS DAY whom you will serve.

Michelle and I watched Dead Poet’s Society (on VHS!) last night. Always a good reminder.

As Henry David Thoreau said “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”

Carpe diem- seize the day.

Or as the Bible says, “Teach us to number our days, that we might learn to live right.”

Do so, and you will LIVE.

As the priest said in Doctor Zhivago “the flesh is not weak, it is very strong”

And that’s the problem. It’s TOO strong. Strong enough to ruin our lives with porn addictions, affairs, or worse.

Growing up, preachers used to always talk about the “two dudes inside you.” One was evil, one was good. It’s the warring natures. We choose which one to feed on a daily basis- whether it be lust, gossip, jealousy, bitterness, whatever… the natures of good and evil will grow and whither depending which we feed and which we starve.

In case you’re just joining the conversation, this week we’ve been talking about how lust is an cancer, part of the evil nature, and it needs to be starved.

How we do starve cancer?

By cutting off the inputs.

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Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m a proud Canadian.

In my country, over 3300 Canadians get cancer each and every week.

It works out to 1,026,600 potential years of life lost due to cancer.

This year, my country will lose over 14 billion dollars because of cancer.

In the next 30 years, my country will spend over 176 billion dollars in the fight against cancer, and lose another 135 billion in economic productivity.

We will spend it on homecare support, hospitals, research, overpaid and often corrupt administrators (I call em “dirty doctors”) and, of course, the astronomical beaurocratic trickle-down fees… you know, the government slice.

We will run marathons, wear pink ribbons, host huge events, de-cry the devastation that cancer causes, and vow anew to fight cancer and find a cure.

But we still won’t beat cancer.  Not that way at least.  It hasn’t worked in the past, and it’s loco to think we can do the same thing and expect different results in the future.

Here’s the problem:

My country forgets is that cancer is a preventable disease.

And interestingly, the “answer for cancer” uses the same principle that I’ve been using to get rid of lust in my life.

It’s quite simple, actually.

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