From Blame to Ownership Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: From Blame to Ownership------------------------- Date: 11/14/2001 Keywords: "blame" "guilt" "ownership" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Psalm 7:1-5* 1. O LORD my God, in You I have taken refuge; save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, 2. Or he will tear my soul like a lion, dragging me away, while there is none to deliver. 3. O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, 4. If I have rewarded evil to my friend, or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, 5. Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. Questions 1. Are you able to criticize yourself accurately?   2. Do you understand that your actions can damage others even when there is no external evidence of injury?   Practical help Yesterday we began a series of studies in Psalm 7. Today we are looking at verses 3-5. The psalm begins with the idea of God as our refuge from those people and temptations that would harm us. Verse 3 flips the focus from external dangers to ourselves as potentially dangerous people. Sure, if others had not corrupted the Internet, you wouldn’t have the temptations you now face, but that isn’t the whole story is it? There is something inside each of us that craves pleasure, even if we have to lie, steal or cheat to get it. For some, this might even include murder. Although we all need God to shield and defend us, there is a place for personal integrity and character. We will never be perfect while living in this world, so we need God every step of the way, but this does not mean we are free to slack off and injure ourselves and others through playing with pornography. Children need parents who are role models, and young people need to make a stand in front of peers who wish to bring them down in order to justify their own low standards of behavior. But the writer of the psalm will not live a life of compromise. In essence he is saying that he gives God permission to allow others to injure him if he has done this to them. He refuses to use God as an excuse for low moral excellence. How about you? Are you willing to make the same courageous stand? We at eXXit are rooting for you to make the right choices. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 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."