Bifocal Vision Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: The Cost ------------------- Date: 2/20/2003 Keywords: "innocence" "shrewdness" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Matthew 10:16* [Jesus speaking:] "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Questions 1. What does this verse mean?   2. How can its message help us resist pornography?   Practical help What's wrong with pornography? Answering that question in two ways can help us avoid it. First, recognize that smut is a business. From the porn magazine moguls of New York to the smut merchants of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, this industry wants to get you hooked on depravity. They encourage your downfall because the more you buy, the more they profit. Let's call up this shrewd insight the next time we're about to type a credit card number into a smut Web site. Second, understand that we can cleanse our minds of pornography. With time, prayer and support from friends, we can turn back the clock to a more innocent time. Sure, random images may flash across our minds from time to time. But obsession with pornography will eventually become only a strong temptation. Which will eventually turn into an occasional lapse. Which will eventually turn into a garden-variety trap to avoid. Let's use this bifocal view — shrewdness and innocence — to help us steer clear of pornography. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2003 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved. ---