Sexual temptation victory begins in the mind!
We live in a generation saturated and sunk, drenched and drugged with sex. Push-button sex is Satan’s No.1 enticement to this “Me First” generation which says, “I want pleasure and I want it, now!” “The movie icons are yielding to it. The sports superstars are yielding to it. Why, even some of Christianity’s star preachers are yielding to it.
Why then should I be an exception?” says that typical, tired, stumbling, Christ-believing youngster when it comes to sexual temptation. Why’s that? It’s because 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. My personal meditation on the scriptures has given me ten ways to beat sexual temptations. “Win the battle against sex and you win the battle of your life. Lose it, then you lose the battle of your life,” wrote Billy Graham as early as 1957.
Let’s start –
What is the first Bible method to beat sexual temptation?
I would say “SET” – set your mind to beat it!
The very first step to beat sexual temptation or any temptation concerns our mind. If you quizzed Daniel on how he beat temptations that pertained to the desires of his body (in his case it was the temptation to eat tasty food that may have been openly offered to idols and later offered to him) this would be his reply: “I made up my mind not to defile myself…” (Dan 1:8 NLT). We must set our mind to appreciate the fact that sin’s pleasures are at best “fleeting” (Heb 11:25). Moses, once he recognized this, could bid farewell to a royal life in the Egyptian Palace (where sexual pleasure was there for the asking!). When we have it in our mind that a single day in God’s courts is better than a thousand anywhere else, then, we can stay far from sin (Psa 84:10).
Very often Satan would entice us with sexual temptation saying we would feel awesome if we yielded to it. But the end result would be that we would feel awful after an initial elation.
Say you have an option of getting into a permanent job and temporary job, what would you naturally choose? The permanent job obviously! But when it comes to temptation – especially sexual temptation – we choose the temporary job. I say that because we chase after passing pleasures when there are eternal pleasures at the right hand of God (Psalms 16:11).
