It puzzles me, as someone who tries to lead a Christian life, why there are so many of us Christians that are overly hypocritical? For some, our very doctrine is blatantly contradictory. For others, it is our actions. There are SO many examples, but I’d like to focus on two that I consider to be huge.

1. Lust – There is a common misconception that men are the only human beings capable of committing this sin. Wow, what a falsity! First, God doesn’t work that way! I don’t recall a time where God said, “Ok, you two can’t do this cause it’s a sin, but the rest of you are good to go.” That’s just not the case. So, ladies, stop thinking that’s ok!

Second, Matthew 5:28 says, “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). To me, this is pretty serious. And I don’t think it matters if it’s a man looking at a fully clothed woman, or if it’s a woman looking at a man with his shirt off and abs glistening. Lust is lust, sin is sin.

Women need to understand that looking at Channing Tatum and saying/thinking “yum” is just as lustful as a man doing the same thing to a woman. There is no difference.

Which makes me wonder how it became socially acceptable for men to go shirtless, but not women? Certainly there is an anatomical difference, but BOTH can incite the other sex to lust.

SO – Christian men, it is YOUR duty to do what you can to prevent women from lusting after you. Christian women, it is YOUR duty to stay away from situations (movies, magazines, websites, books) that lead you to lustful thoughts.

2. Cursing – Many people like to debate that cursing really doesn’t hurt anyone, so it is ok. I could not care less about that excuse. There is no excuse, really that I care about, because I don’t care about any arguments on the issue except one:

Cursing hurts your witness. When you make it public that you are a Christian, yet you behave like a drunken sailor, you have hurt not only your reputation, but Christ’s. All other points on the matter are futile.

Also, we as Christians should stope condoning cursing by our friends, family, or in our TV/Movie programming. Of course, you can’t stop other people from cursing, but you CAN respectfully request that they lessen or stop their cursing when you are around. 9 out of 10 people will at least attempt to respect that. Sure, there will be one jerk who says no and makes a big deal of it, but you’ve done your duty. Perhaps they aren’t such a good person to be around anyway…

We need to stop frequenting films that are filled with cursing and other trash. It is NOT Godly. Yes, Jesus walked with the sinners. He got into the ditch with the prostitutes, and he pulled them out. He did not, however, have sex with that prostitute while he was trying to save her. He did not use salty, sultry language while saving the city’s rough riders.

God does not expect us to partake in stuff like that. We are to be in the world, but not OF the world. How can you say you are a Christian, but then go see Ted (which has over 100 F-bombs and multiple G-D’s)? Or The Hangover (which was also riddled with cursing as well as nudity/drugs/alcohol/sex/etc.)?

If nothing else, seeing these films hurts our witness. But more than that, when we partake in the sins that the world offers, we are becoming of it. Most of us get by because we choose not to think about it – that is wrong. Ignoring sin does not make it right.

God is calling us to be separate from this stuff. If you are going to partake in the sins of the flesh, then I hope you will at least feel bad about it!

Note: I am not saying that I am perfect in these areas myself. There are a lot of movies I want to go see, but they have cursing/nudity in them. For the most part, I stay away, but there have been some that I saw anyway, and I know I was wrong. I know I’m not perfect, but I am trying to change what I can, and I hope you will too!