Stormproof Men IISample

What is Our Target?

What is your goal in the battle with sexual temptation? This may seem like a silly question. We don’t want the temptation to overpower us, right? The question is not that simple, though, because the answer will dictate, to a large degree, how successful we will be in the battle. Think of these four possible responses: 

• I want to quit feeling guilty. 
• I want God to remove the temptation. 
• I want to say “no” to the temptation. 
• I want to honor God. 

Before reading on, take a few minutes and choose the option you desire for yourself. Don’t automatically select the “church” answer! 

I Want to Quit Feeling Guilty

The first option is easy to address. If we want the guilt to go away, then it seems we aren’t striving for sexual purity. We simply do not want to feel bad because of our actions. You spend too-much time perusing porn and then masturbate to the images on your screen. Later, you remember the principle, “flee immorality” and you feel guilty, a valid guilt because you failed to obey the Scriptures. You did not flee immorality; you chased it. 

For the believer, guilt arises because of the work of our conscience, of the Holy Spirit within us, and of the Word of God. If the only thing we desire is for this guilt to go away - a legitimate awareness that we sinned - then we are focused on how we feel about our thoughts or actions rather than the rightness of them. The Bible calls this “hardening of our heart” or “searing of our conscience.”

Desiring our guilt to go away is much like wanting the red warning light on the car dashboard to go away. When the red light says, “Service Engine Soon,” the problem is not the red light! Something in my engine needs attention, and the warning light lets me know about it, so I can address the problem. True guilt serves a similar purpose. Just as the red light on the dashboard indicates that something in our car needs to be repaired, guilt warns us something in our lives has to be repaired. The solution is not to “disconnect the light,” but rather to “fix the problem.” Eliminating guilt does not address sexual purity.

For more resources and to find out about the book Stormproof Men, Sexual Purity for Christian Men in a Sex-Saturated World, please http://www.gsot.edu/stormproof/

  

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