Run toward God, and Run with Good Friends Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Want to Stand Strong Against Sexual Temptation? Run TOWARD God and Run WITH Good Friends- ------------- Date: 08/07/1998 Keywords: "righteousness" "faith" "love" "peace" "Gospel" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you STAND STRONG in the face of sexual temptation. Today we are again giving attention to 1 Timothy 2:22*. Yesterday, we saw the importance of running AWAY FROM sexual temptation. Today, the Bible tells us to run TOWARD something else. "Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Run TOWARD! (Keep these thoughts in mind.....) "pursue righteousness" — What you want to be in five years, begin being today. Do you envision yourself being free from pornography in the future? That is a righteous vision. Take a first step today by choosing to say "No" to the temptation to view pornography on the web. "pursue faith" - Does it seem that you need to have that hourly, daily or weekly "fix" of sexual stimulation from the Internet? God says you don't need it. He says, "flee youthful lusts." You are forced to a faith crossroads: either following God brings life, or it doesn't. You'll never know until you climb out on the limb of faith and resist temptation. You will find that the limb holds! "pursue love" — Love does not act unbecomingly (1 Corinthians 13:5). It is "unbecoming" (i.e. unloving) to focus your sexual interest on the body of a woman you don't know, or on the body of any woman to whom you are not married. "pursue peace" — With every click to a new image, there is further personal dis-integration. There is less integrity. There is greater distance between what you know you should do and what you are doing. This results in a loss of inner peace. The path to restore peace is to establish congruity between your inner and outer life. Run WITH! (you weren't meant to walk alone) If you are a Christian, you have the resources of the Body of Christ to draw upon for help in resisting temptation. Many churches have support groups. Seek them out. Find a Christian brother or two to whom you can bare your soul. Ask for loving accountability. If you are not a Christian, but would like to break the stranglehold of Internet (or other) pornography, contact this web site via e-mail and we will gladly direct you to resources that will help you stand strong. (If you need information about how to become a Christian, include a note to that effect. We will respond to you, personally.) THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Life is a hunt and we choose the quarry. We either chase those things which lead us away from God (things like sexual lusts), or we choose to use our energies to pursue Him (righteousness, faith, love, peace, etc....). To chase after God with all we've got is life itself! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1998 by eXXit *"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."