March 24th, 2025
by John Kelley
by John Kelley
WARNING: Today’s devotion is very personal. I’m going to delve into some things that may not be safe for work or for kids. There won’t be anything vile, but the topic is an adult topic that needs to be talked about. So, after a fair warning, let's get into it.
When I was in seventh grade, I had a friend named Corey who invited me to spend the night at his house one weekend. My parents gave the ok, and I was on my way to a weekend that would forever change me…..and not in a good way. I would never be able to look at women the same way again.
When we arrived at his house, I immediately noticed something different about the “feeling” I had upon entering. I grew up a minister’s son. There was always this feeling of welcome and love when you would come to our house. It was so palpable that my friends loved coming over. They always received kind welcomes, and there was almost always a snack. In today’s terms, we had some great vibes in the Kelley household.
In Corey’s house, no one was there. When his mom and dad arrived, there were no warm welcomes. As a matter of fact, I barely remember his parents at all. There was more of a “fend for yourself” feeling in their home. As I can remember, we grabbed some food for snacks when we got there and even made our own dinner. As a 12-year-old, I had no clue how to cook, and it showed. I think our dinner was just a bunch of junk food. Let’s just say that 12-year-olds are capable of a lot, but we were not Michelin-star chefs.
Before Corey’s parents arrived home, he told me to come check something out. We went into his parent’s room and looked under their bed to find something I was NOT expecting. There, in a very large pile, were adult magazines: Playboy, Hustler, and a host of others way more vile. For the next two hours, we sat in his parent’s room staring at nude pictures of women and, in some cases, looked at lude sexual acts that children should never see. All the while, we kept our ears open to listen for his parent’s cars pulling up the driveway. We couldn’t be caught.
Suddenly, my whole world was changed. That next week at school, I couldn’t look most of the girls in the face. I had thoughts going through my head that I couldn’t really talk to anyone about. If I did, my friends would make fun of me. My parents would lose their minds. I suddenly felt alone and dirty. Those images were burned into my brain, and I couldn’t make them go away. The worst part was that I felt like God wasn’t there. Today, I know He was there, but as a kid, I felt like He packed His bags and left. My soul felt like a pit where there was no bottom, and it was filled with nothing. I fell into that pit with guilt and remorse that I had never experienced.
Thankfully, God has redeemed me since that time. I won’t lie, I struggled with addiction to that garbage for years. You may be surprised to find that most men have. Once it enters into the equation, pornography is a poison. However, God is bigger than that poison. He’s bigger than addiction. Understand, I did have to face the ramifications of my actions throughout my life. God is just, and I had to face his justice along the way to redemption. Justice is necessary when sin is involved. It’s like a refining, and refining takes fire, and fire burns. Justice can be painful, but it’s necessary for us to be cleansed of the filth that finds its way into our lives.
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
Proverbs 21:15
Throughout the rest of this week, I’m going to be talking about God’s justice. What does that look like? Why does God have to be just? Next week, we’ll talk about His mercy. How does God redeem the people who face His justice? How does forgiveness enter the equation? Justice and redemption are really two sides of the same coin. It’s nearly impossible to have one without the other. So, over the course of the next two weeks, we will jump into five different accounts of God’s justice from the Bible. The following week, we will see where God showed mercy in each of those situations.
My experience is not unique to me. Many men and women have similar stories. Satan loves to use sex as a means to corrupt people, and he loves doing it at a young age. According to the website “The Guardian”, 79% of children under the age of 18 have viewed pornography. That’s roughly 3 out of 4 children. We live in a corrupt world, but it is nowhere near the corruption of two ancient cities in the Bible.
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Genesis 18:20–21
Rome, Athens, and Las Vegas are names that come to mind when we think of cities where sin rules. Las Vegas is actually known as “Sin City!” As renowned as those cities are for their debaucherous practices, they are mere child’s play compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was so bad that God was willing to wipe the cities from the face of the earth. Let’s read from Genesis 18.
So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
Genesis 18:22–32
The evil in Sodom was so bad that God was willing to wipe out the entire city. Abraham went into bargain mode with God, and He promised not to destroy the city if they could find 10 people who were righteous. Unfortunately, things did not go the way Abraham had hoped. Two angels came to Lot and planned on spending the night in the square, but Lot begged them to stay in his house. In a short manner, we find out why.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
Genesis 19:4–9
These men of Sodom were so vile that they wanted to have their way with the two angels. They were so entrenched in their lust that they were willing to destroy homes in order to satiate their hunger for perversion. This did not go well, and the angels only had one response.
Then the men (angels) said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Genesis 19:12–14
Lot, his wife, and two daughters left the next morning for the city of Zoar. Unfortunately, his sons-in-law didn’t heed his warning. This meant that they would share in the fate of the rest of the city.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
Genesis 19:24–25
God is not a god of perversion. He is a god of purity and righteousness. He is also a god of justice. While we don’t know exactly who it was, there was an outcry to God seeking justice against Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sin was so great it called for God to step in. God could have just slapped them on the wrist and, in a very gentle voice, said, “Now, let’s not do that anymore.” Unfortunately for these two cities, they were far beyond gentle words. Action was needed, and God stepped in. The destruction of these cities was needed. Their impact on the area around them was felt and something needed to be done. God is just, and His justice can be swift.
What can we learn from this? This really just feels like a sad story, and it is. Truthfully, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a cautionary tale of how much God detests sin. It puts a chasm between us and God. Think about it for a second. When we are doing things that we know separate us from Him, do we immediately jump into prayer? Or, instead, do we avoid it? God wants, desperately, for His children to want to be with Him. He longs to be in our presence. Sin puts up a barrier that blocks that connection. God’s justice, while sometimes severe, is necessary to right the ship and allow for that connection with Him once again.
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
Proverbs 28:5
As Christ-followers, we need to understand and even love God’s justice. When we raise our children, we have to have a form of justice in order for them to understand right and wrong, good and evil. Justice isn’t just a punishment. It’s righting the ship. It’s recalibrating our spiritual compass. We shouldn’t be angry at God for his justice. We should be thankful for a God who loves us so much that he is willing to set us back on the path we need to be walking.
Without His justice, the person speaking to you right now wouldn’t be capable of doing ministry for the last twenty-nine years. I had to learn to love God’s justice, and it is my desire that you do the same. Who knows? Twenty-nine years from now, you could be the one sharing your story with others to encourage them to seek God more.
When I was in seventh grade, I had a friend named Corey who invited me to spend the night at his house one weekend. My parents gave the ok, and I was on my way to a weekend that would forever change me…..and not in a good way. I would never be able to look at women the same way again.
When we arrived at his house, I immediately noticed something different about the “feeling” I had upon entering. I grew up a minister’s son. There was always this feeling of welcome and love when you would come to our house. It was so palpable that my friends loved coming over. They always received kind welcomes, and there was almost always a snack. In today’s terms, we had some great vibes in the Kelley household.
In Corey’s house, no one was there. When his mom and dad arrived, there were no warm welcomes. As a matter of fact, I barely remember his parents at all. There was more of a “fend for yourself” feeling in their home. As I can remember, we grabbed some food for snacks when we got there and even made our own dinner. As a 12-year-old, I had no clue how to cook, and it showed. I think our dinner was just a bunch of junk food. Let’s just say that 12-year-olds are capable of a lot, but we were not Michelin-star chefs.
Before Corey’s parents arrived home, he told me to come check something out. We went into his parent’s room and looked under their bed to find something I was NOT expecting. There, in a very large pile, were adult magazines: Playboy, Hustler, and a host of others way more vile. For the next two hours, we sat in his parent’s room staring at nude pictures of women and, in some cases, looked at lude sexual acts that children should never see. All the while, we kept our ears open to listen for his parent’s cars pulling up the driveway. We couldn’t be caught.
Suddenly, my whole world was changed. That next week at school, I couldn’t look most of the girls in the face. I had thoughts going through my head that I couldn’t really talk to anyone about. If I did, my friends would make fun of me. My parents would lose their minds. I suddenly felt alone and dirty. Those images were burned into my brain, and I couldn’t make them go away. The worst part was that I felt like God wasn’t there. Today, I know He was there, but as a kid, I felt like He packed His bags and left. My soul felt like a pit where there was no bottom, and it was filled with nothing. I fell into that pit with guilt and remorse that I had never experienced.
Thankfully, God has redeemed me since that time. I won’t lie, I struggled with addiction to that garbage for years. You may be surprised to find that most men have. Once it enters into the equation, pornography is a poison. However, God is bigger than that poison. He’s bigger than addiction. Understand, I did have to face the ramifications of my actions throughout my life. God is just, and I had to face his justice along the way to redemption. Justice is necessary when sin is involved. It’s like a refining, and refining takes fire, and fire burns. Justice can be painful, but it’s necessary for us to be cleansed of the filth that finds its way into our lives.
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
Proverbs 21:15
Throughout the rest of this week, I’m going to be talking about God’s justice. What does that look like? Why does God have to be just? Next week, we’ll talk about His mercy. How does God redeem the people who face His justice? How does forgiveness enter the equation? Justice and redemption are really two sides of the same coin. It’s nearly impossible to have one without the other. So, over the course of the next two weeks, we will jump into five different accounts of God’s justice from the Bible. The following week, we will see where God showed mercy in each of those situations.
My experience is not unique to me. Many men and women have similar stories. Satan loves to use sex as a means to corrupt people, and he loves doing it at a young age. According to the website “The Guardian”, 79% of children under the age of 18 have viewed pornography. That’s roughly 3 out of 4 children. We live in a corrupt world, but it is nowhere near the corruption of two ancient cities in the Bible.
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Genesis 18:20–21
Rome, Athens, and Las Vegas are names that come to mind when we think of cities where sin rules. Las Vegas is actually known as “Sin City!” As renowned as those cities are for their debaucherous practices, they are mere child’s play compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. It was so bad that God was willing to wipe the cities from the face of the earth. Let’s read from Genesis 18.
So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
Genesis 18:22–32
The evil in Sodom was so bad that God was willing to wipe out the entire city. Abraham went into bargain mode with God, and He promised not to destroy the city if they could find 10 people who were righteous. Unfortunately, things did not go the way Abraham had hoped. Two angels came to Lot and planned on spending the night in the square, but Lot begged them to stay in his house. In a short manner, we find out why.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
Genesis 19:4–9
These men of Sodom were so vile that they wanted to have their way with the two angels. They were so entrenched in their lust that they were willing to destroy homes in order to satiate their hunger for perversion. This did not go well, and the angels only had one response.
Then the men (angels) said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Genesis 19:12–14
Lot, his wife, and two daughters left the next morning for the city of Zoar. Unfortunately, his sons-in-law didn’t heed his warning. This meant that they would share in the fate of the rest of the city.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
Genesis 19:24–25
God is not a god of perversion. He is a god of purity and righteousness. He is also a god of justice. While we don’t know exactly who it was, there was an outcry to God seeking justice against Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sin was so great it called for God to step in. God could have just slapped them on the wrist and, in a very gentle voice, said, “Now, let’s not do that anymore.” Unfortunately for these two cities, they were far beyond gentle words. Action was needed, and God stepped in. The destruction of these cities was needed. Their impact on the area around them was felt and something needed to be done. God is just, and His justice can be swift.
What can we learn from this? This really just feels like a sad story, and it is. Truthfully, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a cautionary tale of how much God detests sin. It puts a chasm between us and God. Think about it for a second. When we are doing things that we know separate us from Him, do we immediately jump into prayer? Or, instead, do we avoid it? God wants, desperately, for His children to want to be with Him. He longs to be in our presence. Sin puts up a barrier that blocks that connection. God’s justice, while sometimes severe, is necessary to right the ship and allow for that connection with Him once again.
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
Proverbs 28:5
As Christ-followers, we need to understand and even love God’s justice. When we raise our children, we have to have a form of justice in order for them to understand right and wrong, good and evil. Justice isn’t just a punishment. It’s righting the ship. It’s recalibrating our spiritual compass. We shouldn’t be angry at God for his justice. We should be thankful for a God who loves us so much that he is willing to set us back on the path we need to be walking.
Without His justice, the person speaking to you right now wouldn’t be capable of doing ministry for the last twenty-nine years. I had to learn to love God’s justice, and it is my desire that you do the same. Who knows? Twenty-nine years from now, you could be the one sharing your story with others to encourage them to seek God more.
Recent
Archive
2025
January
March
2024
January
What Is Prayer?AdorationConfessionThanksgivingSupplicationScripture Is The Word Of GodGod’s Word Guides UsGod’s Word Convicts UsGod’s Word Connects UsGod’s Word Encourages UsWhat Is Worship?Worship In Our WorkWorship In Our FamilySunday WorshipWorship Even When You Don't Want ToWhat is Fasting All About?Giving God Our Meal TimesEmptied of Ourselves and Filled with ChristFasting Develops FocusFood Is OverratedGod Is NOT In The FireJesus Sneaks OffWe Make Our Own Noise
February
We All Need SpaceGod Is Not Santa ClausWith Great Blessing Comes Great ResponsibilityCan Stewardship Be Scary?Filling the Need When We See ItIt's All His AnywayTime Is NOT On My SideWe Need Each OtherDevoted To The WordBreaking Bread TogetherGroup Conversations With GodFour Hands Are Better Than TwoLet’s Keep It SimpleOnly Take What You NeedSlow DownThe Great PurgeA Simple MessageGod’s Word Is A WeaponDo You Have A Game Plan?What You Remember Most Matters MostStart With the Basics
March
April
Sin Is RealDistraction Leads to Cover-UpWandering In DisobediencePride Comes Before the FallI Do What I HateThe Beauty of RedemptionRedemption Has A PriceWe Need To Claim Our PrizeYou Gotta Have FaithEven When You Look Like a Fool….God Will ProvideTrust the ProcessI Forgive YouGrace Is Free, But It Isn't CheapI Was Wrong, You Were RightThe Mob
No Comments