It's everywhere, magazines, websites, television, all showing scantily clad women, put there to entice men. One cannot even go into a store without seeing it in the magazine rack at the checkout. We go online just to check our email or social media and get these pop-ups showing women, wearing barely anything, promising “pleasure” and “enjoyment.” We watch TV, maybe a clean family show, then the commercials come on for sunscreen, soap, or a new sports drink, featuring a woman, barely dressed, using the product. It is everywhere and there seems to be no escape. These companies figure that we men are more likely to buy whatever it is they're selling if they show these women in their ads, because it is what we want to see. And sadly they're not wrong.
This is not an easy topic to write about, especially as a guy. We are all guilty of the sin that is lust. I've done it, you've done it, even the "righteous" man at church, who claims to have never lusted, has done it.
We men are objectifying women. We treat them as nothing more than an award or a new car, something for us to look at and enjoy. We lust after them. Matthew 5:28 says "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So when you lust after a woman you are committing adultery before God.
Women were created by God for a purpose just as we were. They are NOT inanimate objects, they are human beings, they are God's creation. So when we disrespect women, we are disrespecting God's creation, thereby disrespecting God.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes respect as “a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way.” We need to treat women appropriately and respectfully. “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” 1 Peter 3:7
In John Bunyan's book, The Pilgrim's Progress, a friend of Pilgrim's, Faithful, deals with lust. He talks of a man named Adam the First, who offered him his three daughters, “The Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life.” Faithful had considered taking the man up on his offer, but then he sees the words written upon the man's head, “Put off the old man with his deeds.” (Colossians 3:9) Faithful then tells Pilgrim, “Then it came burning hot into my mind, whatever he said, and however he flattered, when he got me home to his house, he would sell me for a slave. So I bid him forbear to talk, for I would not come near the door of his house.”
This is what happens. When we give way to lust and greed it will take hold of us and will not let us go easily. We become a slave to it. We are to put off the old man and flee, run from it. Flee from lust and run to God.
So I challenge you as men of God to stop objectifying women and start giving them the love and respect they deserve. They are not trophies, they are humans and God loves them just as He loves us. When you see a woman immodestly dressed, whether it be in person, in a magazine, online, where
ever, turn your eyes and flee. It will not be easy. Ask God to help you. He will bless you for it. It's time we start respecting women. Who will it start with? Will it start with you? Object to objectifying women!
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body."
-1 Corinthians 6:18
