Friday Freelance: FECKLESS

feck·less \ˈfek-ləs\ adj 1: WEAK, INEFFECTIVE

My four-year old drools in his sleep.

Some mornings, there's no damp pillow or cheek. Yet moms know. I'll cuddle him to wake up and catch a whiff of the telltale smell on his sweet face—and I hardly intend to quit cuddling to wash. Later, an older sister may hold him and say, "Daniel smells funny." At some point, he will get a bath to take care of all the funny smells which cling to four-year olds.

He's learned self-control where nighttime bladder issues are concerned. But when it comes to keeping his mouth closed during sleep, I can't help but like the word feckless.

"There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that
will not be known." (Luke 12:2 NKJV)

I recently read a compelling line from The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge: "Unsettled, we turn and walk quickly away, like a woman who feels more than she wants to when her eyes meet those of a man not her husband."

Yikes.

I'd only noticed men who give women a slightly too appreciative glance before looking away. Are the secrets hidden in a woman's heart just as easily laid bare?

Men have the reputation for lust. I don't see their lust for sex much different from women's lust for romance, whether in frequency of thought or in the danger for compromise.

I've heard, "Feelings aren't right or wrong—they're just feelings." This lie from the pit of hell is the devil's tool to convince us that lust, wrath, pride, and an entire host of other emotions are justified. We think them our own secrets, which hurt no one. We see our hearts somewhat like our cars. We pass through the midst of hundreds of other cars but think of our space as private—while it's surrounded by glass.

Like the invisible dried spittle on my son's cheek, we unwittingly reveal our hearts and the evil emotions in them. We may dwell on such emotions and feed them, and eventually act upon them. If forced to confront those emotions, we justify them as no more than human.

The Creator indeed allows us anger, which can motivate us to defeat unrighteousness as it did David against Goliath. The Lord allows us enough pride to care about how we're perceived, so we'll work toward displaying the love, joy and peace He puts inside of us. God gives us sexual desire to unite ourselves with our spouses—body and soul—and to reveal more clearly divine union with us which is His desire.

Satan and flesh would use these good emotions for evil.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do,
that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who
do it, but sin that dwells in me... O wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—
through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:19-20,24-25 NKJV)

It's said sinful emotions are like birds: you can't prevent them from flying overhead, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.

We must indeed battle sinful emotions every day that we live on this side of heaven. We must remain aware of the dire consequences which follow if we fail to fight.

And we must remember to draw near to our loving Father, whose will is to continually wash us of sin's odor even as He looks affectionately upon our humanity which renders us feckless.

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