The Magnetism of Righteousness Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: "The Magnetism of Righteousness" ------------- Date: 10/21/1998 Keywords: "hatred" "good" "avoidance" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.   Passage: Romans 12:9b * 9b Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.   Questions 1. This verse speaks of a proper response to what is evil. Put the first phrase of the verse in your own words.   2. The second five words speak to the volitional choice we are to make with respect to what is good. Give an example or two of some things that are "good" in your world, things, values, activities, people toward which you would love to run.   3. In the moment of temptation, it often seems that there is a very great moral "gray area." This verse cuts through some of that fog and assures us that there is an objective, absolute "good" doing battle with an objective, absolute "evil." In other words, in the moment of temptation, there is something we should run toward and something we should run away from. In moments when you are tempted to click on to a pornographic web site, there is a battle raging. There is something to hate/abhor and there is something to cling to. If the pornography is what you are to hate, to what will you cling?   Practical help Which potential chauffeur would you hire to drive your expensive luxury sports car? Each of four applicants is asked one question, "If you were driving my car, how close do you think you could come to a concrete wall without being in danger of scratching the paint?" The first applicant's reply is this: "I could get within a foot of the wall without your car being in any danger." The second applicant assures you that he can do better. "I could come within six inches of that wall and never put your car in danger of being scratched." The third applicant is even bolder and promises that he could bring the car to within three inches and keep it out of danger. The fourth applicant takes a different tack. "I don't know how close I could come to the wall without endangering your car. But if I were driving your car, I'd stay as far away from that wall as I could." Of the four applicants, the fourth is the one I would want driving my car. That is the wisdom of Paul's approach in Romans 12:9. We are not to see how close we can get to sin without actually sinning. Instead, we are to see how far away from sin we can stay. How does this apply to the temptation to view Internet porn? Don't visit questionable web sites. Stay away from the Internet in unmonitored settings. Abhor web porn. Cling to purity! 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."