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I'm Not Mad At The Super Bowl



I'm not mad at the Superbowl.  I'm not mad at the love and joy of coming together and watching the game with family and friends...and of course, food.  I'm not upset that people love to laugh at funny commercials.  There's nothing in and of itself wrong with that. 

 Never mind that the half-time show almost always has reason to generate 1232398482 comments on facebook about how immodest or scandalous or sexy some singer/dancer is.  Never mind that just about every Superbowl commercial is using sex to sell their product.  Never mind that the Superbowl is the number one event in America for sex-slavery.  These are just the sad and sordid results of what our culture values most.  Where the hearts of our people lie.  

 Sex.  Our culture is all about sex.  and...

 It's not just at the Superbowl!!!

 Sex is in the magazine rack at the grocery store.  It's in the parking lot as a dude checks out some girl walking by's spandex butt while he waits for his girlfriend to get out of the car.  It's on almost every store in the mall's front window picture.  It's on the Sports illustrated calendar at the calendar shop in the middle of the mall for all to see.  It's outside the Victoria's secret store where there is a father sitting on a bench with his young boys...sneaking glances when he can..and the boys are openly and curiously looking at the images of boobs blown up bigger than their heads (I've seen this on numerous occasions).  It's everywhere you go where there is skin showing to grab lustful glances and attention.  It's in  50% plus of pastor's struggling with, or who are addicted to porn.  It's in the TV shows and movies we watch.  I tutored an 8 yr old a few years ago and she knew all about sex.  "how?" I asked..."because I saw it on TV" she answered.  It's in the homes of young children.  I used to counsel at a crisis pregnancy center, and there were too many little boys who were with their mom, talking about sex....Things about sex that I never knew until I was much, MUCH older.  Or, the young mom's who were dating guys who let their ten yr old have sex, and didn't see it as a problem.  Sex is in the middle schools where over 66% of middle schoolers are engaging in oral sex  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr056.pdf.  It's in the sex education classes where, in some curriculum (I kid you not) it is advised that showering together is a "safe" activity to do with your boy/girlfriend.  Sex is on kid shows, it's in the styling of little "girl" clothes (aka clothes meant to completely replicate in miniature form...hooker clothes).  I can go on and on...but...  Sex. Is. Everywhere.  I'm not bashing sex in the context of marriage (just to be clear), I'm talking about sex that is not within the bounds of marriage.  Any context of sex that is meant to be between you and your spouse.  

 So.  I'm not mad at the Superbowl (though I am frustrated by many aspects of it).  

 I'm mad at Satan.  The father of lies.  I'm mad at the hold he has on our people in the area of sex.  The chains and bondage he has us in.  The relationships and marriages he hurts or destroys through sex. The condemnation he heaps on us after we follow his lies.  I'm mad at the intense struggle and battles our men have to fight to remain pure. I'm mad at what the enemy steals from us when we buy into the false promises he sells us in sex.  

 and....I'm mad for my son.  

 I want to cry when I think of all that my son (starting at a very young age) is going to have to take in just from living every day life.  I'm overwhelmed at the fact that there is no way I can protect him from ALL exposure to sex when we live in a world saturated in it.  I battle hopelessness that he will ever be able to remain pure.  I feel this intense pain at the thought of my little baby boy possibly struggling with pornography someday.  For the weight of condemnation that comes with lust when you don't apply the grace of the Gospel.  

 But for all my pain and anger and struggles...I have hope.  

 I have hope because I have prayer. I have prayer, I have the hope of the power of the Gospel to transform hearts...including my son's heart.  I have the burden of responsibility lifted off me when I am faithful and I trust the Lord to do the work.  I have victory, for, though we fight here on earth, the main battle has been won, and Christ is the victor.  Satan and all his lies and tricks will forever be crushed, and the children of God will be forever pure.  Christ already paid the price of our sin with his blood so that we can be seen as righteous in God's eyes.  

 So, because we have hope, we persevere.  we fight.  
"To them God has chosen to make known among the gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."  -Colossians 1:27.

 I pray for my son's heart. For my son's salvation.  
....On my knees.  
.............every day. 

 SO.   

 Dear Superbowl, 

 As messed up as you are in so many ways, I am not mad at you.  You make for a good time overall.  It is not your fault that we have sin in the world.  You are just a conduit of showing the world the sin we are already entrenched in.  I pray that the Lord will purify his people and that one day you will be a worthier and more sanctifying event to watch.  If he doesn't...well...I'm still not mad...at you.

 Yours not so truly, 

 Sarah

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