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We know we all do it. We “pretend” nothing is wrong. We pretend we are something we are not. We pretend we do not know Jesus. Peter did that 3 times. We pretend something is not missing God’s goal for us (aka sin) when it is in fact sin.

Jesus challenges us to stop. We are God’s children. We should not pretend we are not. We pretend we do not know He is in a good mood. We know he is.

God is great. God is in charge. God wants us to be real, in his son Jesus. That is God’s goal for us. Be real in Jesus.

Are we pretending to be righteous just because we are technically legal? Jesus knows that be right with rules and regulations does not make us right with God. Only He can do that. Jesus challenges us to understand the difference between legal and moral.

It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

English Standard Version. (2016). (Matthew 5:31–32). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

We know that adultery begins with lust in our hearts. Jesus is clear about this. Scripture after scripture agrees. We must control ourselves.

  • Proverbs 6:25 (ESV) —Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
  • Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV) — 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
  • 2 Samuel 11:2–3 (ESV) — 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
  • Job 31:1 (ESV) — “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?
  • Job 31:9 (ESV) — 9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
  • Jeremiah 5:8 (ESV) — 8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
  • Matthew 15:19 (ESV) — 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

The good news: Jesus has redeemed us from our sin. His sacrifice and shedding his blood for us wiped it all out. His resurrection into an incorruptible body gives us hope. We can have joy and a fulfilled life in Him. He has given us the Holy Spirit. We do not have to pretend.