Transcript
When most people pick up a book about sex, they think they're going to be reading a book that tells them they have a sex problem and that they need to join some kind of accountability group. And when people think they're going to pick up a book about money, they think it's going to tell them that they have a money problem and tell them how to do a budget.
Accountability and Budgets Are Not Solutions
Now, I want to say this. I have no problem with accountability and no problem with budget. I think that both of those can be potentially helpful, but they are not solutions in and of themselves. It doesn't take much to demonstrate that. Look, if accountability and budget were all we needed in these two areas, there'd be a whole lot more pure people and a whole lot less people in debt.
You see, because the struggle of sexuality, the struggle of money goes to a deeper level than those two things tend to address, and you get that on the Sermon of the Mount. Jesus says if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he's already committed adultery where? In his heart. And when Jesus says that, He explodes the thought that sex and money are behavior problems, that sex is a body problem and money is a spending problem.
Sex and money are heart problems. They're the war of sexuality, the war of money is really fought at the level of the deepest desires, the deepest thoughts, the deepest treasures, the deepest values, the deepest motivations of my heart. Sex exposes my heart. Money exposes my heart. And that means that lasting change in my world of sexuality, lasting change in my world of money will always travel through the pathway of my heart.
Targeting Behavior Without the Heart
Now, if you only target the behavioral things, so a man joins an accountability group and he answers the questions each week and a person forms a budget. Apart from addressing the heart, it can actually make you think that you're doing better than you're doing. I have talked to so many men who became very skilled at deception and hiding in their accountability group. And I've talked to many people who learned how to manipulate their budget to get them what they wanted. You see, because those things were existing in isolation from the issues of the heart.
Now, if you have a person who has begun to understand the deep heart issues for them and are committed to dealing with their heart issues, then accountability and budget can be something that actually assists them in addressing the issues of their heart, but you've got to get at those deeper issues.
