Burning
Bridges
Today's
Three-minute Bible Study
Print,
Study and Apply
Title:
Burning Bridges
Keywords:
"change"
"repentance"
"sacrifice"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage:
Acts
19:18-19*
18. Many also of those who
had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing
their practices.
19. And many of those who
practiced magic brought their books together and began
burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up
the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces
of silver.
Questions
1. In the passage cited
above, believers in Jesus are taking steps to distance
themselves from sinful practices they had observed
before coming to faith in Christ. What are the steps
they are taking?
2. Do you see anything
significant in the burning of the books of magic?
3. Why didn't they just sell the
the books?
4. What effect do you think the
burning of the books had on those outside the
community of faith?
Practical
help
When Christians are
trapped in practices that do not glorify God, we know
that these practices must be stopped. Often, we feel
powerless to stop. Perhaps that is how the Christians
at Ephesus felt before they burned their books of
magic. By taking the physical step of burning them,
though, they made it very difficult to re-enter the
world of the occult. It would have required the
repurchase of those books and going back on a very
public commitment.
Are you having difficulty
gaining victory over the pull of Internet porn?
Perhaps the Ephesian believers provide a helpful
example to follow. Why not take some overt step to
limit your access to porn? You might purchase a
program that denies access to the parts of the web
that you don't want to see. Or, you might disconnect
from the Internet completely (if only for a while).
Or, you might "go public" with a trusted friend or two
who can provide accountability and support for your
battle against pornography.
In these and other ways, you can
make it easier to resist temptation by making it
harder to maintain a habit you want to
break.
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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960,
1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
Used by permission."
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