Leading myself away from temptation

photo by designatednaphour

Pastor Bob challenged us this past Sunday to remain pure in our sexuality. As a man I need this challenge often in my life. I desire to follow God. I desire to reflect God's purity. But the culture today is sexually charged. It is saturated with sex.

In Pastor Bob's outline, the first guideline was to calculate the consequences. I was reminded of the song by DC Talk, "What if I stumble." In the lyrics of the first verse I see how challenging it is to fight sexual temptation and to win. I don't want to have only negative motivation--"don't do it because you'll get it," "What if I stumble, what if I fall? What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all? Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl? What if I stumble, and what if I fall?" But I desire to have a positive motivation--do stay pure because it's best!" "I hear you whispering my name [you say] My love for you will never change [never change]."

So, I will fight for sexual purity rather than fight with guilt after I succumb to temptation.

I especially found profound Pastor Bob's remark that "one of the most effective lies of Satan is that our sin will not cost us anything." You can not only hear the sermon, but also you can read a transcript.

You can find resources in the battle to comprehend God's standards like Stonegate. Their mission is to point people away from sexual sin to restored intimacy with God and others. He is speaking at a purity seminar in February 2009 in Grand Rapids, MI.

On the response card I added my response, "Please pray for me. I will continue to overcome temptations by choosing God's path to stand up under the temptations that assail me." May God grant me success over sexual temptations all my days.