Think Ahead: 7 Decisions You Can Make Today for the God-Honoring Life You Want TomorrowSample

I Will Be Ready

No one plans on making a stupid in-the-moment decision, then hiding it, then lying about it, then losing trust with the people they love the most.

No one plans to mess up their lives.

The problem is they don’t plan not to.

But they were not prepared when temptation knocked.

To be super clear, it is not a sin to be tempted. It is a sin to act on temptation. But to be tempted is not sin; it’s human. Everyone is tempted. Following Jesus doesn’t guarantee the absence of temptation, it’s a declaration of war against temptation.

With God’s help, we’re wise to make up our minds ahead of time to avoid temptation. We will choose to stay as far away as possible from what will hurt us and others and pre-decide: I will be ready.

Instead of being unwise, unaware, and unalert, we need to make up our minds to be ready for the moment of temptation.

When I started dating Amy (who would later become my wife), I was a new Christian. Before Amy, I was not a Christian and had no physical boundaries when dating someone. But I quickly discovered I was supposed to honor God with my body and wait for sex until marriage. I knew what I couldn’t do with Amy; I just didn’t know what I could do.

I went to a Christian guy I respected and asked. “What can I do with Amy?”

I was looking for the line. The line between right and wrong. Between acceptable and unacceptable. Between what God was okay with and what He wasn’t. I didn’t want to sin, but my intention was also to get as close to that line as possible.

I think most of us do that.

What’s interesting is we never do that when it’s obvious there’s real danger.

Right?

If a doctor is about to do surgery on you, you don’t ask him, “How close can you get to my artery without slicing it and causing me to bleed out on your table?”

Or, when I was studying to get my pilot’s license, I never asked myself, I wonder what’s the least amount of fuel I can put in the airplane and still not crash and die short of the nearest airport? Of course not.

When it’s obvious there’s real danger, we stay away from the line.

The problem is when it comes to sin, the danger is often hidden. It’s like a fish seeing a juicy worm floating just below the surface of the water. Looks delicious! What it doesn’t see is the hook in the worm that will lead to the fish’s death.

What we see looks great! What we don’t see will destroy us.

The danger of sin is hidden, but it is there. That’s why we feel comfortable cozying up to the line.

Whatever the temptation, whatever the sin, for all of us, we’re in trouble if we get close to the line.

So, what do we do?

We pre-decide to move the line.

Instead of getting close to the line of sin, we’re going to move the line further away from sin. If it’s wrong and it’s tempting, we’re not going to get close. We pre-decide to move the line to put distance between ourselves and the temptation.

Why resist a temptation tomorrow if I have the power to eliminate it today?

So, ask yourself, “What can I do to move the line? How can I put myself in a place where I can’t be tempted or at least won’t be able to easily act on the temptation?”