“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                 

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com

1 Corinthians 6:19-20… Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.  (NKJV)

If a Christian truly understood what Christ has done for them…they would not disgrace His body by wearing skimpy, inappropriate clothing that can in no way glorify God…  We as Christians have been bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross…  Dressing in revealing clothing will tell all of those around us the attitude and the intentions of our heart… 

When our hearts are inclined towards ourselves, we will typically have no problem wearing revealing clothing to draw attention to ourselves…with little regard for those around us…  But when our hearts are inclined towards God, He should be the One we are focused on…as well as being aware of how others might be affected by seeing us wearing inappropriate or indecent clothing… 

The following scripture penned by the apostle Paul, gives believers more insight to guide them in all areas of their lives… Romans 12:1-2… I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  (NKJV)

Those still living in the world of sin and shame, that the apostle Paul warns us as Christians in this scripture to not  be conformed to…don’t have the Holy Spirit residing with-in them to help guide them in all that they say and do…  But the Christian, should be constantly trying to live in a way that “may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfectwill of God”…  

Let’s say that you are a young Christian girl who dresses in skimpy clothing, to draw the attention of young men to yourself…  Did you ever stop and think about the kind of guy that would be attracted to your inappropriate attire ??  They would probably be guys that you really don’t want to be seeing in any kind of personal relationship…  The kind of guy you should be looking for might look at you, and for a moment see you through eyes of fleshly lust…  But if he was a Christian living for the Lord (which is the kind of guy you should be looking for), he would immediately turn away, and could not be attracted to you for any kind of long-term relationship… 

As a matter of fact, you would be causing this young Christian man to sin, because Jesus tells us this, in…Matthew 5:27-28…  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (NKJV)

And guys…if you are a Christian, and you are sexually attracted to a young woman who dresses immorally…you have just committed adultery in God’s eyes !!  I remember the pastor of my previous church, who has now gone home to be with the Lord, telling me that he used the 3 second rule…  If you look with lust in your eyes at a girl for more than 3 seconds before you turn away…or if you turn away and then look back…you are definitely sinning in God’s eyes…  Men are all wired to be attracted by the fleshly lusts of the eyes that the world loves…1 John 2:15-16…  The trick is to turn quickly away, confess your sin before the Lord if you had lustful thoughts (1 John 1:9), and not look back…  This can’t be done in your own flesh without the power of the Holy Spirit helping you… 

For you single Christian guys out there…the lust of the eyes through addiction to porn, or other sins of the world, can be kept under control by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, living with-in the Spirit filled Christian…1 John 4:4… 

If you are a Christian male, have you ever stopped to think about why you shouldn’t consider dating a girl who dresses in immoral attire ??  A Spirit filled Christian girl, who is living for the Lord, would never dress inappropriately…  This girl dressing immorally may be a Christian…but her heart reflects a lack of love for the Lord, and a failure to apply the gospel of Christ to her life…  She should be dressing modestly to show her love for the Lord and for others, as she brings glory to God through appropriate dress…  And worse…a girl dressed in revealing or immoral attire, might not be a Christian at all… 

If you end up marrying a non-believer, the beautiful exterior will eventually fade away with age…and if their heart isn’t filled with the love of Christ, you will find yourself living under very trying circumstances…  This goes for Christian woman as well…  I know several Christian men and women who are now living with a non-Christian spouse, or have been divorced…and they have told me it is not an easy life…  This is the very reason that God has given us His Word, the Bible, to learn how to live in God’s revealed will…  And by God’s grace and our submission to the Holy Spirit, we can live a Christ centered life that will glorify God in all that we say and do…  

The Bible is absolutely clear that we as Christians are NOT  to be yoked to non-believers… The apostle Paul pens this, in…2 Corinthians 6:14…  Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (NKJV) 

I am reminded of a day’s writing on this very topic of “Christ Centered Relationships”, that was titled… “First Priority in a Relationship”…  This writing can be found @    www.Godsmanforever.com by typing 11/08/2013 into the search window…  The absolute most important thing in anyone’s life, is becoming a Christian in God’s eyes; and then doing our best to live as a follower (disciple) of Jesus Christ…  I have to tell you, after wasting 52 years wrongly believing I was a Christian, that the next most important thing in life is not what profession you choose…or how far up the latter of success you climb…or how much stuff you can accumulate in a lifetime…  I believe the next most important thing after living for Christ, is finding a marriage partner where both the husband and the wife are living a “Christ Centered Life”… 

In that day’s writing on our first priority in a relationship, I posted the link to 3 videos done by Francis Chan and his wife Lisa…which were dedicated to explaining the importance of a “Christ Centered Relationship”…  I urge each and every Christian reader looking for the right possible spouse (that is not yet married)…to watch all three of these videos, to see how absolutely beautiful a relationship can be…when both the husband and the wife have Christ at the center of everything they say and do… 

Here are the links to these 3 amazing video’s portraying the ultimate marital relationship, where Christ is first in the life of both the husband and the wife:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRmM0aVADU&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs  (Part 1) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gankzqrIipQ   (Part 2 – go to minute 14 mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3YNawuuizM  (Part 3)  

For both young Christian men and women who are now involved in pre-marital sex…I urge you to read my writing that was titled… “What !! No Sex ??”…that can be found by typing 12/02/2014 into the search window, at the link I have listed above…  These first years out of high school, until you find the right college (or trade school)…decide on the right occupation…look for the right mate to spend the rest of your life with (hopefully after you have the security of a good job)…and then start to establish a life that you can be proud of…could be accomplished with so much less stress and aggravation with the Lord in control of your life…   I tell you this with 20/20 hindsight, because as I said, I went through all of this without the help of the Lord… 

By choosing to live a Christian life as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am here to tell you that God is bigger than any problem we will ever face…  And with God helping us every step of the way…by opening doors and showing us the right godly path we should take…we can eliminate a lot of the dead-end paths, and the wasted time we will definitely have, if we choose to make our own decisions without God’s help, in this dog eat dog world we live in…

I will end with my favorite scripture, to encourage all of us to seek the Lord…and then let Him direct our path…Ephesians 3:20…   Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,  (NKJV)

That “power that works in us” is the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, if He is left in total control of the Spirit filled believer who is doing their best to live in God’s revealed will and His ways… 

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your living and powerful Word (Hebrews 4:12-13) would cut right to the very core of those who now choose to live for themselves…instead of living a life that You would abundantly bless, if they were living as obedient disciples of Your Son Jesus Christ…   I pray Lord, that Your Word, with all of its godly wisdom, would become as necessary for daily spiritual feeding as the food we eat…Matthew 4:4…  I pray for this fullness of Christ to abound in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills