16 October 2016
Two-Minute Features | 23 October 2016 | 09 October 2016

The Husband's Affections Should Be on His Wife (TMF:520)

Friday, October 21, 2016
Peace to Live By: The Husband's Affections Should Be on His Wife (TMF:520) - Daniel Litton
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       For married men, sometimes your thoughts and eyes are on another woman, or other women, and they are not on your wife. But your affections should be on your wife alone. If you're looking at other women wrongfully and thinking lustful thoughts about them, you are taking your affections off of your wife. The more and more you do this, you may decide you don't like the way your wife looks anymore. You may become discontent with your wife. And, thinking about other women—committing adultery with them in your mind—could led to improper actions from yourself. You may try to make reality the things you've been thinking about in your mind. You may go after another woman and actually commit the adultery that you were thinking about. Having these preliminary, inappropriate thoughts can lead to sinning against God, yourself, and others. Whether or not your thoughts have led you to physically commit the act, the thoughts in and of themselves will hinder your marriage. All the time you spend not thinking about your wife and thinking about other women is leading you further and further away from your wife. You affections should be toward her. But in order to have affections for your wife, you have to think the right things about her.

Watching the Scope of Our Eyesight, as Men (TMF:519)

Thursday, October 20, 2016
Peace to Live By: Watching the Scope of Our Eyesight, as Men (TMF:519) - Daniel Litton
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       Before those thoughts can enter our minds, though, we must have been looking at a woman, or women, wrongfully. And this brings up the scope of our eyesight, as men. What are we looking at in regard to our eyes? Are our eyes always going in the wrong direction, looking at a women in a way that we shouldn’t? Where do are eyes lead us when we see a woman at work, or when were out and about, or when were at church? Where are our eyes taking us? You see, if we can practice turning our eyes away from looking at wrong things, we wont let the looks of the woman ever to enter our minds to begin with. We wont have the real life image that we then think about in our minds wrongfully. This is really important for us, as men, to look away or not look at all, and it’s a constant struggle. There is always opportunity, it seems, to sin in this area. But when we make it a practice, it will becomes easier and easier for victory. For married men, sometimes your thoughts and eyes are on another woman, or other women, and they are not on your wife. But your affections should be on your wife alone. If you're looking at other women wrongfully and thinking lustful thoughts about them, you are taking your affections off of your wife. The more and more you do this, you may decide you don't like the way your wife looks anymore.

We Should Respect Women in Our Minds (TMF:518)

Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Peace to Live By: We Should Respect Women in Our Minds (TMF:518) - Daniel Litton
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       But with men, sometimes we take liberty with our thoughts and think things about women, those whom we know or even don't know. And we shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts. Again, the thought might come to mind that because no one can see our minds, we think it doesn't matter. We might even say, “Oh, well. It's not hurting anyone.” But, actually, in reality, it is hurting someone. It’s always hurting God. And it’s hurting yourself, and if you're married, it's hurting your relationship with your wife. It's hurting you because you are being disobedient to God, incurring loss of reward, admiring a woman in a way you have no right to admire her. Plus, you're focusing on the wrong thing with her. You could be focusing on how to build her up, but instead you are focusing on how good she looks. Therefore, because your mind is in the wrong place, you are losing opportunity for good and doing good for her in a way God may want you to. And tolerating and abetting sin in the mind will lead to more and more sin—to a further deterioration from a healthy mind. These are just some of the consequences. Undoubtedly, there are more.

What We Think About In Secret Matters (TMF:517)

Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Peace to Live By: What We Think About In Secret Matters (TMF:517) - Daniel Litton
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       When Jesus talked about giving away money secretly in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:4, ESV). Well, God is always watching, and he will reward us for our obedience to him. And we will give account to God, at the end our lives, for our thoughts. The Apostle Paul told us in Romans chapter 2 that God will judge our secrets, as men, on the day of Christ Jesus, at the judgment (see Romans 2:16). Now, why is this significant? One might say, “Oh, well. I'll just worry about that later.” It's significant because our disobedience to God could cause, and will cause, the loss of reward in our lives after this one. Whether we are in the Millennial Kingdom—or the New Heaven and New Earth, this loss of reward will make us have a lesser experience in the future than what we could have had if we had been obedient. I don't think a lot of us think about this as much as we should. But we need to think about our rewards in the future. If you're a business-minded person, think of your rewards as your 401k. You don't want to have little when you really go into rest, do you?

The Man's Mind When It Comes to Personal Purity (TMF:516)

Monday, October 17, 2016
Peace to Live By: The Man's Mind When It Comes to Personal Purity (TMF:516) - Daniel Litton
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       So, first, let us note some problems when it comes to our minds, as men. God has given each of us the great gift of imagination. With our minds, we can think all kinds of things, creating whatever we want, kind of like a movie generator. Our imaginations can and are used for good on a daily basis. But the problem comes when we use our minds for evil—thinking and cultivating thoughts God doesn't want us to be thinking about. This is especially true when it comes to our own personal purity as individuals. Often, within ourselves as people, the thought comes to mind that, “No one will ever know what I am thinking.” And that's true, at least right now. And that's what makes it difficult. We, as humans, think that we can think whatever we want with our minds and just get away with it. But we have to remember that God is always watching. When Jesus talked about giving away money secretly in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:4, ESV). Well, God is always watching, and he will reward us for our obedience to him.