Somebody pointed me to a show on a channel I would usually prefer not to watch that had an interesting concept. It was following 3 people in their late teens and early twenties who were making the decision to be celibate (I believe they all were making secondary commitments after failed relationships). Sounds noble, but what caught my attention was their consistent statement on how difficult this was. They were saying this while at parties, clubs, or just hanging out with the opposite sex at their houses. No duh!
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2
We wonder why fighting temptation is so hard yet we are unwilling to remove ourselves from the world. These young people have a made a choice to be celibate which is difficult enough if you are locked in a room somewhere, but instead of turning for help to God they went to parties and danced provocatively with members of the opposite sex. This should be an example for us Christians of what NOT to do. If we want to fight temptation we have to participate in radical amputation. We can’t fight temptation on our own, maybe we can temporarily resist it in the right circumstances, but putting ourselves in position to fail is the worst thing we can do. Why are these young people stopping themselves from having premarital sex then going to the very places where that act is praised and promoted? No wonder it is difficult. This world throws enough of this at us daily that we surely don’t need to add any of our own to it.
What to do? I think these young people would have benefited from some simple solutions. First and foremost is get there lives right with Christ if it is not already. From just watching the show they didn’t appear to be Christians and if any of them are then they need to consider how they are portraying themselves. Secondly they need to cut the activities that lead to sexual temptation out of their lives. It’s ok to have friends of the opposite sex, but be careful the situations you put yourself into. Don’t hangout alone away from anyone and make sure your views line up on the subject of sex. Thirdly if you have too cut out the friends that are leading you down the wrong path. A couple of these young people had friends who supported them, the other had a friend that continually tried to lead him down the wrong path. Eventually you have to cut those people out of your lives – it takes some of that radical amputation to remove the temptation from your life. Don’t let a so called friend be the reason you falter and lose your testimony for God.
It was sad to see these people make a tough decision even harder. It’s not easy and I commend them for making the choice. We can use their mistakes and learn from them. The next time you make a decision to remove temptation from your life – do it fully and be sure to cut anything out that might cause you to fall!
Filed under: Devotion | Tagged: Celibacy, Cutting out temptation, True life
