Sex: Design. Distortion. Redemption.Sýnishorn

Prayer: 

Before reading, take a few moments to ask God to reveal truth to you from His word. Thank Him for the ability to read these verses, and ask that God convicts you of our youthful desires we most give in to. Ask God to already be preparing you to fight back against these desires. 

"The Team"

2 Timothy 2:22 tells us to flee youthful passions. In this context, “youthful passions” probably refers to a preaching style that gives someone a good reputation but doesn’t line up with what God has told us. However, the phrasing is purposefully broad enough to encompass anything that caters to our own desires instead of God’s, including how we use our sexuality. Practically, this means that, in a moment where I’m going down a path that will lead me into doing things with my significant other that I know should be saved for marriage or when I want to watch or read pornography, I run away. 

Unfortunately, if we don’t know what we’re running toward, we can feel like we’re  just running in circles. In 2 Timothy, Paul goes on to say that we should pursue things like righteousness, faith, love, and peace. It’s not enough to run away from what’s bad for us; God wants us to run after excellent things, things that are good for us and please Him. It’s a two-step process: flee evil, pursue good. However, that’s easier said than done in the world we live in, and we learned yesterday that we’re constantly at war. How then do we fight well? With a team.

Can you imagine one soldier defending a military base? What about the soldier trying to take over a city? It sounds ridiculous because it is—you can’t win wars or effectively defend yourself alone, and that applies to our spiritual war as well. The only way we can flee our corrupt desires and pursue the holy desires God gives us is with a team around us, with other believers who can keep us accountable, meaning they hold us to the standard we want to be true of ourselves. 

They ask you if you’ve lost your temper this week, gossiped, let your mind create sexual fantasies, lied, etc., and you allow them to call you out when you choose things that do not honor God so that you remember to chase the right things. They’re also there to celebrate your victories as you live the way God has asked you to. Rather than trying to carry everything on our own, we need to rely on our Christian brothers and sisters to bear each other’s burdens as we challenge ourselves to become more like Jesus. 

We are meant to run toward Christ arm-in-arm with other Christians who are also fighting for the same goal of living a life that is pleasing to God. When we run toward the things of God together and learn how to use our desires in the way God intended them, we open ourselves for God to use us to make an impact in this world and in the one to come. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. What “youthful passions” do you most often indulge? 
2. Who do you have around you to help you run from youthful passions and toward God?

What’s Next:

1. If you do not already have a community of believers, think through different ways you can find community (getting involved in a small group, volunteering, etc.). If you do already have a community of people around you, think through ways that your community can grow—be more vulnerable, have more honest accountability, encourage one another better, etc.