the last question you ask is, how
do i feel right before i’m tempted?
in other words you need to know your emotional triggers that make you
vulnerable.
some people are most vulnerable to temptation when they’re frustrated. just so frustrated and don’t know what to do. then they get tempted to do the wrong thing. some people are tempted when they feel lonely. that’s the way they respond. some people feel tempted when they’re angry. or when they’re bored. or maybe you’re tempted when you can’t sleep at night. and you get up and you turn on a channel you really don’t have any business watching.
the point is once you determine how, where, when, why, and what’s the most typical pattern – and there is a pattern in your life, it’s a pattern and you need to be aware of it – then here’s step two. plan to avoid it.
it’s not rocket science folks. once you know the patterns that tend to cause you to give in to temptation then you plan to avoid those patterns. once you know the triggers, then you set some boundaries in your life that keep you from those situations. as i said, if you don’t want to get stung then you stay away from the bees.
proverbs 4.26-27 (gnt) “plan carefully what you do… avoid evil and walk straight ahead. don’t go one step off the right way.” if you just keep your eyes focused, don’t get distracted.
there was this man who in1974 was living in japan and he was working as a short-term missionary in nagasaki, japan. he said, “i was teaching english at a church and i was staying in the home of the permanent missionaries there in nagasaki. every night as i would go home to their home which was up on a hill i had to every night (it was the only way i could get there) walk straight through the center of nagasaki’s red light district. knowing that every night there were full sized posters of nude women on either side of those narrow roads and call girls standing out there seductively dressed all the way through the red light district. i just made a covenant with my eyes, ‘i’m not going to look to the right, i’m not going to look to the left, i’m going to keep my eyes focused straight on because i don’t even want to be distracted. if it gets my attention it’s going to get me.’ so i sat boundaries.” plan carefully what you do, avoid evil and walk straight ahead.
just a thought from the front porch…
some people are most vulnerable to temptation when they’re frustrated. just so frustrated and don’t know what to do. then they get tempted to do the wrong thing. some people are tempted when they feel lonely. that’s the way they respond. some people feel tempted when they’re angry. or when they’re bored. or maybe you’re tempted when you can’t sleep at night. and you get up and you turn on a channel you really don’t have any business watching.
the point is once you determine how, where, when, why, and what’s the most typical pattern – and there is a pattern in your life, it’s a pattern and you need to be aware of it – then here’s step two. plan to avoid it.
it’s not rocket science folks. once you know the patterns that tend to cause you to give in to temptation then you plan to avoid those patterns. once you know the triggers, then you set some boundaries in your life that keep you from those situations. as i said, if you don’t want to get stung then you stay away from the bees.
proverbs 4.26-27 (gnt) “plan carefully what you do… avoid evil and walk straight ahead. don’t go one step off the right way.” if you just keep your eyes focused, don’t get distracted.
there was this man who in1974 was living in japan and he was working as a short-term missionary in nagasaki, japan. he said, “i was teaching english at a church and i was staying in the home of the permanent missionaries there in nagasaki. every night as i would go home to their home which was up on a hill i had to every night (it was the only way i could get there) walk straight through the center of nagasaki’s red light district. knowing that every night there were full sized posters of nude women on either side of those narrow roads and call girls standing out there seductively dressed all the way through the red light district. i just made a covenant with my eyes, ‘i’m not going to look to the right, i’m not going to look to the left, i’m going to keep my eyes focused straight on because i don’t even want to be distracted. if it gets my attention it’s going to get me.’ so i sat boundaries.” plan carefully what you do, avoid evil and walk straight ahead.
just a thought from the front porch…
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