Beating Sexual Temptations - Mr. Duke Jeyaraj

We live in a generation saturated and sunk, drenched and drugged with sex. Sexual temptations are powerful, penetrative and almost permanent. So if you can’t beat them you think let me join them. Well, you CAN beat them.

SET! The very first step to beat sexual temptation or any temptation concerns our mind. If you quizzed Daniel how he beat temptation that pertained to the desires of his body, this would be his reply: ‘I made up my mind not to defile myself…’ (Dan 1:8).

We must set our mind to appreciate the fact that sin’s pleasures are at best ‘fleeting’ (Heb 11:25). When we have it in our mind that ‘a single day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere’ then we would stay far from sin (Ps.84:10). SPRINT! Beating other types of temptation may require ‘resisting’ (1Pet.5:9), while beating sexual temptations requires ‘running’ – away from the source – be it a person, a situation or a place (2Tim.2:22). Joseph did it. And he won. He sprinted from the person – ‘he refused to even be with her’ and then from the sin-inducing situation – ‘left his cloak … and ran out’ (Gen 39: 10, 12). SWEAT!David lazily shrunk away from the job he was supposed to be doing – waging war. So he ended up doing what he was not supposed to do – making love with a woman who was not his wife (2Sam.11:2). On that catastrophic day he woke up in ‘the evening’ (2Sam.11:2).

Laziness is a sure-fire ticket to sexual sin. Standing waters gather filth, haven’t you noticed? Sweat it out at the job you are called to do and the force compelling you to do the forbidden can be quenched. SNAP-FREE! When Jesus said, ‘gouge’ your eye which ‘causes you to sin,’ He advocated the use of drastic steps to check and curb the onslaught of sexual passions (Mt.5:28-30).

Joseph snapped free from the wife of Potiphar when he came to know about her immoral intensions. He understood Jesus’ ‘gouge-your-eye’ message right. SELECT! ‘Two are better than one … if one falls down, his friend can help him up’ (Ecc.4:9, 10 NIV). Select a friend with whom you can share with confidence the struggles you face in beating sexual temptations – even the failures – and by giving him the authority to check you will go a long way in helping you beat it. ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another’ (Pr.27:17 NIV). I am really benefited in my life with the help of an “accountability” friend.

It really works! SHOOT! From the warnings against adulteresses in Proverbs we read this: ‘These commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light … keeping you from the immoral woman’ (Pr.6:23, 24). Quote the scriptures and you won’t succumb to those seductive temptations! Tempted to watch pornography? Quote 2Sam.11:27, ‘But the thing David had done displeased the Lord’ (The first thing he did in that chapter was to have a lingering look at the nude Bathsheba). STAY PUT! God told us never to lie, never to steal but never did He tell us, not to have sex. He only told us to stay put – wait – for the right time – marriage. Just remember you are not banned from sexual pleasure – just remember a day is coming when you can have all of it – the day of your wedding.

Believe me, that very thought would puncture the pressure which gigantically builds up as we set out to beat sexual temptations! SWERVE! Any red-blooded young man would have a copious quantum of sexual energy, which unless swerved – diverted – for other nobler purposes will definitely lead to inevitable sexual sin. Blocking a furiously flowing river with a dam may be smart, but easing the pressure off the dam walls by diversion canals is brilliant. When your sexual energies magnetically pull you to watch a blue movie, perhaps it’s time to diffuse that energy into the blue waters of a beach, swimming. If ‘the glory of young men is their strength,’ what can be more glorious than giving off our best strength to the Savior, rather than to sinful sexual pleasures (Pr.20:29, Pr.5:9) SHUDDER! The effects of yielding to sexual temptation are deadly. David, the great leader of Israel who had an adulterous affair, had to go silent when his son raped his daughter (2Sam.13:2l, 22).

The next time when you think of yielding to sexual temptations, take time to count the cost of yielding to them and you will find that thought not so pleasurable. SPIRIT WALK! No – we cannot beat sexual temptation on our own strength. We need the power from above to tame the passions from within. The person of the Holy Spirit will supply the power we need for the same. Paul wrote that we can ‘put to death’ what our sinful nature urges us to do through the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom.8:13). He again writes in the same vein that ‘if we walk in the Spirit’ we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Gal 5:16). The presence of the Lord with Joseph enabled him to resist the advances of an immoral woman (Gen.39:3, 10-12). Yes, you can beat sexual temptation!