PROSTITUTING

“Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD’s commands.”
Judges 2:17

On a pretty regular basis I arrange with the Red Cross to donate my blood. I figure, freely I have received, freely I can give. While that may not be the true point of that verse (Mt 10:8), it does make for a laugh, or at least a smirk. Yes? Anyways, I have been donating my blood for some time now and for the most part know all the pre-giving questions that I will have to answer. I know what countries affect my ability to give, as well as my general overall health. So far I have never been turned down. But one question always catches my attention. It isn’t that I have done it, but that for me it is something I have never even considered. “Have you, even once, traded money for sex?” Honestly, while I know people do it, I cannot say I have ever, nor would ever. Yet while this may be true in the physical, I wonder if it is true in the spiritual.
The last few months I have been reading through the Bible. I recently finished the book of Joshua and found this fact. In Joshua 24:15, Joshua speaks to the masses that they needed to choose for their own selves who they would serve, the one true God, or other gods. The people answered in the verses to follow that they would serve the one true God. But in Joshua 24:19 Joshua says to the people, “’You are not able to serve the LORD…’” Why? Was God too much God for the people? Were their motives wrong? Were they just saying what Joshua hoped they would say? Regardless the answer, the nation again declared they would serve the true God. To this Joshua called them out as witnesses to their own words and choice, ordering they throw away whatever gods they happened to have, and yield their hearts solely to God.
The book of Joshua ends and the book of Judges begins. Joshua has now passed and the people begin to work to rid their new land further still of the ungodly inhabitants. Because the people of Israel were unable to cleanse the land fully, though, the evil began to sneak back in. This is in many ways the same lesson we see when looking at the account of Lot. In being close to Sodom, he eventually gave into the lifestyle of Sodom, even to the point of offering his own daughters to a sex-hungry people. But Israel’s giving in was not an overnight thing. In fact, we read in Judges 2:10 that when those who had followed Joshua passed, a new generation arose who neither knew the LORD, nor what He had done.
Now hold on! You mean to tell me that none of the fathers taught their sons the ways of God? None of the mothers taught their daughters the truth of what God had done? How can this be? Abraham passed his beliefs to Isaac, who passed it to Jacob, but the men who fought alongside Joshua failed to pass it on to their children?
Looking at the verses to follow we read of the problem this brought about. “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals” (Jud 2:11). By not having the faith of their fathers passed to them, this new generation of Israel gave into the worship of idols and foreign gods. Maybe as a last ditch effort, God sent judges to save the people (Jud 2:16), yet they would not listen. Instead they prostituted themselves to these other gods, refusing to give up their wicked ways.
So that brings me back to my original thought - while I may not prostitute myself in the physical, or have been with anyone that has, have I prostituted myself in the spiritual? I have not bowed to other gods made of wood, stone, iron, gold, or materials like that, but have I bowed down to other gods in any other fashion? Am I guilty of prostitution? Have I taken the world’s payment in exchange for my allegiance to Him? If God is looking for a heart sold out for Him, for a person who will be obedient to His ways, and for a life that reflects His, then yes, I am guilty for I have not been all these things. As sad as it is, I have prostituted myself spiritually in exchange for the world’s payment. What then is to become of me and this behavior?
The answer for me is the same answer given to the people of Israel who constantly were wayward in what God decreed. Turn back to Him. Each time Israel went off track they went into bondage. But when they confessed and got right with God, the chains of their bondage were broken. Spiritual prostitution is sin and puts me in bondage. Therefore, like Israel, I too must confess it as sin and turn. When we confess our sin God forgives our sin. He cleanses us, forgives us, and forgets the actions done.