Thursday | 02 April 2026
A woman is freed from wantonness as she acknowledges and forsakes her desire for control that is informed by romance and anxiety. The Lord identified the basis of this fallen and native orientation to life, saying to the first woman, ‘Your desire shall be for your husband.’ Gen 3:16. It is the desire for others to ‘be for her’. He further described its effect in a house, and in the church, as ‘the spirit of Jezebel’. Admonishing the presbytery in Thyatira, He said, ‘You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality [through mixture] and eat things sacrificed to idols.’ Rev 2:20.
A man is freed from wantonness as he acknowledges and forsakes his pursuits that compete with the labour that belongs to diligently entering rest. This is why Jesus said, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ Luk 18:24‑25. This form of wantonness may be apparent in those who are colloquially described as ‘workaholics’, who prioritise work and business opportunities over the relational works that are associated with fellowship in the kingdom of God. It may also describe a man’s pursuit of worldly, or fleshly, pleasures, where he confuses these experiences and opportunities with the blessing of God.
We are being delivered from the bondages that are associated with wantonness, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Gal 5:1. Rom 8:21. Our interactions with others are no longer for the purpose of identity verification, but are an opportunity to serve one another through love. Gal 5:13. This is because we are receiving our identity expression from the Son, who is the substance of our sonship.
Further Study:
Galatians 5
References:
Gen 3:16
To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.’
Rev 2:20
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Luk 18:24-25
And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
Gal 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Rom 8:21
Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Gal 5:13
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.