Character: Apostle Clavon Leonard

We, as Christians, must speak out against sin. We live in a society that looks down upon anyone who dares to speak out against anything that the general public accepts and tells us to be quiet about. The issue that I would like to address is fornication in the church.

The Bible states in I Corinthians 6:18-20,

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

God is clear about how to handle your body. Apostle Paul states that our bodies are not our own. We must know how to possess our bodies in holiness. The general church world and average Christian thinks nothing is wrong with fornication if (1) you are in love with the person, (2) you plan to be married, (3) you have already been intimate, (4) you have children together, (5) you are grown [18 and above], and (6) you are lonely.

The church makes excuses for fornicators in the church. The scripture states in I Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” Let us examine ourselves and take a look at the following three steps.

Step # 1: Stand

I think it’s time for the church to take a stand against so called believers who make excuses to fornicate. The Bible states to abstain from it, so we simply need to do it. I am coming from a place of both conviction and experience. I, being single, now do and have struggled with wanting to fornicate. In my earlier experiences with church people, it was a very hard task to go cold turkey (stopping without evil motives). The church did not provide the tools necessary for me to be successful at what they demanded from me. I experienced a lot of judgment about an issue that I personally felt everyone around my age in the church was doing. I learned through experience that it was not the church that demanded for me to stop, but God!

It was through prayer and studying the word of God that conviction was birthed in me to stop doing what I loved, but God hated. We must move beyond talk and demand action. It was the knowledge of what offended God, not man’s judgment, that brought me to a place of conviction.

Step # 2: Prove Character

We must prove that our character is more than talk. It is important for people of other religions, babies in Christ and luke-warm Christians to see leaders that are mature enough to exercise discipline in this area. The religious leaders have turned their back on this subject because most fornicators are the most talented and generous givers. God has challenged the body and its leadership to prove that talent is a gift, but character is a choice that must be made on a daily basis, from situation to situation, from moment to moment.

Step # 3: Be an Example

We must be an example to the youth, our leaders of tomorrow, and show them that having character and integrity concerning our bodies will build a long lasting relationship. The body of Christ must express a distaste and must refuse to accept this behavior as normal and acceptable. There must be discipline among the body to show there is a difference between what’s holy and what’s unholy. We cannot allow people’s gifting to take the place of holy living. We must demand a standard among the body that provokes them to obey the Father. Many churches struggle because there is two standards in the church! One for the normal people and the other for your gifted believer. The gifted should not be excused from holy living. In my experience, just because you are intimate with someone does not guarantee that the relationship will last. The body must speak out even if it breaks the false peace we experience when compromise is allowed to run rampant.

Step # 4: Rise

The last stage is we, the body, must rise above our limitations of our own character and strive to be people of excellence. In my own experience, I do not speak against anything I was involved in. I just learn from it. We must separate what was acceptable to what is acceptable based on our past experiences or present struggle. The body must rise above the limitations of excuses for being young, lonely, and needing love in order to meet God at his standard for how we must possess our bodies and flee fornication. We must rise above how unbelievers, church critics, luke-warm saints, complacent and judgmental people and speak out against committing fornication. We must set a standard of holiness to operate in even if it takes our limitations to the next level and establishes a new standard in our walk with Christ. This will force us not to just read, but live a life of excellence demanded by God. This may require us to take an unpopular stand with family, friends, and peers to establish a new testimony and be truly an effective witness.