Bible Reading: Proverbs 6:24-29
Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coyness seduce you. Proverbs 6:25
“BEFORE I became a Christian, I messed around sexually,” Tyler admitted. “I expected trusting Christ would make all my wrong desires vanish. So far it hasn’t worked that way. I’m reading my Bible, praying, and getting close to new Christian friends. But what else can I do?”
Just keeping in step with God won’t automatically guarantee your bouts with lust will disappear. The important point is how you deal with them.
Here are some practical principles to help you handle sexual temptations:
- Your body is a spiritual battlefield. Get used to the idea that the war will continue until Christ returns. There will always be a struggle.
- Take responsibility for your actions. What might trip you up is the rampant idea that sexual urges are beyond your control. God created you in his image with infinite value and dignity-and with the ability to make moral, righteous decisions and abide by them. Most of the time people land in bad situations because they dive into them.
- Control your thought life, because that is where lust begins. There’s no way to put a lid on sinful thoughts outside of filling your mind with God’s Word. Here are some Scriptures that can help: Psalm 51; Proverbs 6:27-28; Romans 6:12-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 10:13; James 1:12 and 4:7; and 1 John 4:4.
- Choose your friends carefully. Make sure your closest chums are people who help you, not who make it harder for you to handle temptation. Right friends can help you make right choices.
- Don’t get overconfident about lust. But don’t get overly fearful either. You put yourself in danger at either extreme.
- Admit your struggles and sins to God as well as to another Christian you trust. Talking openly can protect you from fooling yourself.
- When you see or meet someone who brings lustful thoughts to mind, force yourself to look in that person’s face and eyes. Changing where you aim your eyes sounds trite, but it helps you recognize and respond to the real person that is there and not just to the body that person is living in.
These truths have been used by thousands of students like you. Combining these weapons with a steady stream of prayer will keep your mind and body safe.
REFLECT: What steps will you take to guard your heart from lust?
PRAY: Tell God about your desire to stay pure in body and in heart.
