Colossians 3:5 says, “put to death what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.”  This is a very strong statement, but very necessary.  As was demonstrated for the humpteen millionth time to our entire country this week, sexual/emotional passion will not and cannot be managed or contained, it must be killed whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.  Governor Mark Sanford, my governor here in SC, a great man and one I admired, tried to manage his passions over the last several years and as always, he lost.  If he would have only killed his passions 2 years ago when he felt them stirring every time he received a flirtatious email from this woman in Argentina.  If he would have only confessed his reckless passions to a Christian friend when the emails began to tantalize him and make his heart jump.  If he would have only stopped them cold when they turned sexual.  If he would have only realized that he was showing up to gun fight with boxing gloves, as his passions were out to totally master him, while he thought he could simply 'manage' them and keep them 'beat down' into one compartment of life. 

Now, however, he knows better.  Unfortunately, it is too late to save his wife from a broken heart, too late to save his 4 sons from the unbelievable shame of having their father's perversions broadcast across the entire country, too late to save honor for the Sanford name and too late to keep the name of Jesus from being maligned by the cynics, as Mark is a professing follower of Jesus.  Yep, it is a classic case of underestimating the enemy, and the enemy is within us!  These scandals used to make me very angry, but now my primary emotion is sorrow rather than anger.  I also feel a little scared because I have the tendency to make the exact same mistake, that of underestimating my enemy.  Killing my sin seems so radical and often feels like overkill, so I just want to manage it and keep it small and innocuous.  The problem with that is that my sin is in the kill or be killed mode, it isn't into fragile peace treaties.  It wants to own me and the only way I overcome it is with overwhelming force (as pictured above!). 

So don't misinterpret my blog, I am for Governor Sanford, not against him.  His wife is a great woman of God and her response to his infidelity has been one of the holiest things I have seen in a while.  She maintiained her dignity and her boundaries, even throwing him out of the house, but yet continually offered up an offer of forgiveness if he was willing to make the radical changes necessary.  I am praying they will be reconciled, that Mark will put to death his adolescent lust for this woman of equally low morals in Argentina, and restore his family and his honor.  This process will be costly, and it will take years, but it is the path of honor. 

As for me, I am more determined than ever to live in real community and have real men in my life who are guarding my heart along with me, so that I will not be deceived by my own lusts.  It really is a kill or be killed proposition . . . let's band together and continually put these things to death in our lives so that we can bring honor to our families, honor to our legacies and most importantly, honor to the great name of Christ, if we indeed call ourselves Christians (which means 'little Christ').