Dad always believed that philosophies would play out to reveal the best way to live. An acquaintance from church in my younger life turned his back on God. He believed that chastity was abusive and restrictive. He believed whatever a person wanted to look at had no moral bearing.  

When I first spoke with this person, I struggled, becoming miserably frustrated with his viewpoint. I would complain to Dad, but Dad was patient and pragmatic. He believed our philosophies would eventually reveal themselves.  

I have learned that I can be frustrated about bad philosophies in my life. I want vengeance but I don’t want the consequences of a life of vengeance. I want to drink the absolute terror of the news like a draft and not believe I will be deeply poisoned by this choice.  

My dad would tell me not to fret about the man who has planted the seeds of belief in the abusiveness of chastity. “Pray for the man instead,” he would tell me. “This man has planted a sorrow deeper than he knows.” 

As the years ticked by, sure enough the man who believed sexual sobriety to be abusive has reaped the whirlwind. His children, so lovely when young, bear the ravages of this moral vacuity as they head into adulthood rife with the severest of troubles. I thought I would feel happy to see the outcome of his terrible philosophy play out in folly and misery, but his family’s story only serves to sadden me and make me weep with anger and sorrow.  

Our daily philosophies go down into the soil of our lives and the fruit is visible to all. I need to carefully scrutinize what I believe and see how that is bearing fruit.  

This self-assessment is always sobering to me. God, have mercy on us to walk in Your ways and to lead us forward in Your truth.  

Be not deceived: God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. – Galatians 6:7-8

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