LASCIVOUSNESS, LICENTIOUSNESS, AND LENT

Happy Resurrection Day friends. I just wanted to be the first say He Is Risen... He is Risen INDEED!!!!!! March 23, 2008 is when we celebrate what separates Christianity from all other philosophies, religions, and social groups.

We are entering into a season known as LENT. The time of the LENGHTENING OF THE SEASONS. What was once limited to the "high church"...nowadays is found in the "low church". The liturgical and the
non-liturgical...or evangelical churches... are using this season as a springboard into a concentrated time of reflection and focus of how we are living out our faith.

Lent is a 40 weekday journey (minus the Sundays) that is preceded by FAT TUESDAY...entered into with ASH WEDNESDAY...and concluded on RESURRECTION SUNDAY...aka Easter. Like Christmas...the CHRIST MASS... where Santa Claus becomes the reason for the season...so is RESURRECTION SUNDAY has the mixture of egg hunts, easter bunnies and baskets. Jesus died on the cross not an easter bunny.

Lent is a time of prayer, reflection...dare I say...rumination of our Christian walk...and a time to deal with the flesh...dealing with the nature of our carnality. Carnival literally means..."removal of flesh"...from the diet as a symbolic removal of the "flesh...sarx...carnality" in our lives. Of course we are suppose to do this on a daily basis 365 days a year...but 40 days is a good start to begin discipling the flesh.


Three days prior to Ash Wednesday is known as SHROVETIDE...ending on SHROVE TUESDAY (aka FAT TUESDAY). Shrove is an Old English word meaning "to repent". This is also know as MARDI GRAS. Mardi Gras has come to mean a time for debauchery...Laciviousness and Licentiousness...where it is the last chance your get to do what you want to do before entering into a 40 days season of denial of your flesh.

People usually choose to give up something for Lent. It could be anything from sweets, meat, cigarettes, cussing, caffiene, etc. It is not only a time for giving up something negative in our lives...but a time to add in something positive. You could give up carbonated drinks...and replace it with water...or give up sweets and replace it with veggies. Another tradition is the cutting of the King Cake... a cake with a toy baby representing the Baby Jesus...resulting in various benefits...including the privelege of buying next years king cake.

People use this time to let it all hang out. Bourbon Street will be crowded with excesses of wild, drunken revelry...promiscious sex..females who lift up their shirts to show their breast so horney men will through them cheap trinkets. It is like Esau selling his inheritance for a bowl of stew...instead of inheritance these ladies are selling their dignity for cheap beads. I know many mothers and fathers are proud of their sons and daughters.

LENT is a season of DISCIPLING THE FLESH.


Proverbs 29:18 states..."Where there is no VISION...the people PERISH, but happy is he who keeps the law." "Where there is no vision the people are UNRESTRAINED". Other version say...the people run wild, the people are uncontrolled, the people will be scattered, the people cast of RESTRAINT.

The Word of God gives us guidelines...and when we see the Word...it brings restraint in our lives. Without the restraint...the cause and effect is death... we perish...we wither on the vine.

Lasciviousness=Given to or expressing lust, lecherous, exciting sexual desires, salicious.

Licentiousness=Lacking moral discipling or ingnoring legal restraint, especially in sexualt content.

I have heard people say...and I have said it myself...that the Lord made me the way I am...and I am just naturally doing (fill in the blank). For example, when a girl walks by...and you start thinking certain things of what you would like to do to that girl...you excuse your behavior by saying, "The Lord made me this way so it is okay to lust after or make lewd comments."

We are called to DISCIPLINE THE FLESH...to RESTRAIN THE FLESH...to NOT LUST. Some would say...I am not committing adultery...but Jesus states if you think about you have committed the act. He was underscoring our inability to handle our flesh...and the need for a Saviour to help us.

In the book HOW TO DISCIPLINE YOUR FLESH...there is a saying that rings true. It states:

UNRESTRAINED THOUGHTS...PRODUCE UNRESRTAINED WORDS...RESULTING IN UNRESTRAINED ACTIONS.

The more you choose not to restrain your thoughts...the more what you are thinking will be manifested on your lips...and eventually wll result in your actions...what you do will be manifested...to the point of bringing you to the point of death (physical, emotional, spiritual).

When we are thinking with our flesh instead of with a renewed mind...the moment of pleasure that we derive from casting off our restraints....gives us pain for a lifetime. That's what I like about LENT...it gives me a time of recentering...refocusing...repristinating my relationship with God. I do it during the year...but sometimes it is like a roller coaster.

"Therefore, GIRED you MINDS for ACTION, keep SOBER in SPIRIT, FIX your hope completely on the GRACE to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do NOT BE CONFORMED to the former LUSTS which were yours in ignorance; but like the Holy One who called you, BE HOLYyourselves in ALL YOUR BEHAVIOR; becaue it is written, YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (I Peter 1:13-16)

The thing is...you CAN'T DO IT...but God can by THE HELPER...the Holy Spirit...who will help you "discipline your flesh...for the purpose of godliness." (I Timothy 4:8). This discipline is in the areas of your: speech (what you say), conduct (what you do), love (what moves you), faith (what you believe), and purity (what is your condition). All of this is disciplined...to show yourself...an example fo those who believe.

During this lenton season...let God put His finger on whatever needs to be changed in your life...yield your will to His will...have a change of heart, change of mind, change of attitude, change of direction (aka repentance/shrove)...and rise up anew.

Love and Lenton Kisses
Rodney "Thank You For Grace and Mercy" Boyd