Sexual Purity and Destinyნიმუში

The first way to discourage sinful desires of our flesh, refuse to love the world, and resist the devil is to confess our sins. Sexual sin operates best in secrecy and anonymity. Environments, where we are unseen and unknown, encourage the sinful desires of the flesh. The world will create avenues for these sinful desires to thrive. The devil will tempt us in these worldly environments. As long as we remain in secrecy and anonymity, sexual sin will have an upper hand over us. The antidote is confession. Confession is light. Sexual sin is darkness. The way to get rid of darkness in a room is to bring in light. Who do you confess to? The Bible says in James 5:16 that we should confess one to another. That means to fellow Christians.

The second way to discourage sinful desires of our flesh, refuse to love the world, and resist the devil is to repent of our sins. Repent means agreeing with God and changing. We must admit that we fell into sexual sin because at some point we disobeyed God’s word. The way back is to admit we were wrong, apologise and change our behaviour. Godly sorrow is sincere and calls out its behaviour as evil and sinful. Worldly sorrow is insincere and calls its bad behaviour a mis­take or an unfortunate event. Godly sorrow wants to be free from sin. Worldly sorrow wants to sin freely.

The third way to discourage sinful desires of our flesh, refuse to love the world, and resist the devil is to abstain or avoid sexual sin. See the counsel of Jesus. He says to get rid of the stumbling block in your life, no matter how precious it is. It is interesting that he just doesn’t say any eye or hand; he says the right hand. Arguably, most human beings have their right hand as their default hand of use. The right eye can be considered the default eye, or the best one. Jesus says that if the right eye or right hand becomes a stumbling block, get rid of it, no matter how precious it is to you.

The fourth way to discourage sinful desires of our flesh, refuse to love the world, and resist the devil is to examine our company. The world will always have influence over you when you willingly keep its company. The devil will have an easier time tempting you when you are with the wrong people. Your evil desires will never die if they are en­couraged by the wrong company. You can never rise above your com­pany. I remember a preacher saying, “If the five people around you are purposeless, visionless, and careless, let me correct your math; there are six of you!” Many people fool themselves that they keep company that contradicts their values, but they somehow are different. The truth is that we are exactly like the company we keep. And if we think we aren’t, we are just too proud to see it.

The final way to discourage evil desires, kill the love of the world, and resist the devil is by imbibing the word of God. The Bible tells us that heaven and earth will pass away but the Word of God will remain (Luke 21:33). Jesus taught that not one jot or one tittle of God’s word would be unaccomplished. The Word of God is firmly established to last. It is not in league with human opinion. It is not in league with the commentaries of newspapers and blogs. It is the divine word from God’s Holy Spirit. The Bible is not just a book of mental information; it is a text of spiritual transformation. When we imbibe the Word of God, our souls will be refreshed, our simplicity will turn to wisdom, our hearts will be full of joy, our spiritual eyes will open, aglow with understanding, and our reverence for God will materialise.