Time To Run
by Jeanne Rogers
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what
he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that
nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit,
from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8, NIV)
A teenage girl shared how caring house parents led her to Christ during her pregnancy at a home for unwed mothers. “I was so tired of trying to figure out my life on my own, and nothing seemed to work for me,” she admitted. “I needed a relationship with God.”
After she gave birth, and returned home, she drifted into sin again. “When I fell, God picked me up and said, “Okay, it’s time to get up and run again.” She recommitted her life, changed surroundings and experienced a passion to obey God, declaring, “I want to run after what He has for me.”
Her resolve was tested, but the Holy Spirit is empowering her life against sexual temptation as she runs toward intimacy with Jesus.
In our permissive culture, men and women who are sowing emotional and mental seeds to satisfy fleshly desires can be overwhelmed with temptation and compromise their sexual integrity. They will also reap a harvest of relational destruction.
Shannon Ethridge wrote the book Every Woman’s Battle in answer to Steve Arterburn’s Every Man’s Battle. She alerts us that sexual integrity is not just a man’s issue and explains the way women differ in their struggle.
A man battles begins with what he takes in through his eyes; he must guard his eyes to maintain his sexual integrity. God made women to be emotionally and mentally stimulated, so they must closely guard their hearts and minds as well as their bodies in order to experience God’s plan for sexual and emotional fulfillment.
Ethridge writes, “A woman’s’ battle is for sexual and emotional integrity. Men’s physical needs tend to be in the driver’s seat and his other needs ride along in the back. That is why it is said, that men give love to get sex and women give sex to get love. A woman’s emotional needs are as vitally important to her as a man’s physical needs are to him.”
The battle for sexual purity in all four aspects of our being: body, mind heart and spirit. That is why Paul’s warns young Timothy, “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.” (2 Timothy 2:22, NLT)
Paul wanted Timothy to live each day as if everyone would one day know his actions. Paul knew God’s word would be Timothy’s guide. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT)
Our bodies are called the Temple of the Holy Spirit in scripture. They are the instruments through which God will do His mighty work, so we must resist the thoughts and behavior that corrupt His Temple.
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV) The lustful thoughts we entertain must be locked out the same way we lock out an intruder from our home.
Joseph, the favored son of Jacob was a man of moral integrity and courage. When his master’s wife pressured him to have sex with her, he refused and ran from the house. So run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. (1 Corinthians 6:18, NLT). Make a covenant with your eyes. (Job 31:1, NIV) Run into the arms of a strong Savior who loves you.
This Week
Examine what you’re putting into your mind? Guard your minds and hearts against lust. Arm yourself spiritually--be alert and run from compromising situations.
Prayer
"Father, you say in John 4:4 that your power that is in us is greater than the power in the world. I receive your Holy Spirit’s power to strengthen, purify me and protect me form sinning against you with my body."
