"Flirting with the Forbidden"

Steven James’ Flirting with the Forbidden is filled with one-liners; not ha ha’s but aha’s:

Jesus didn’t die just so that one day I could go to heaven, He died so that I might stop living for myself now.

When we’re tempted (either by our own desires or the nudgings of the devil) I don’t think the point is to make us do the unthinkable—at least not at first. The goal is to make the unthinkable more and more reasonable.

Our prayers might not all be answered in the time and manner we’d prefer, but we can either turn our eyes inward in pity or upward in faith.

I think that to truly follow Jesus, we have to ask not just that God’s will be done in this world, or in our lives, but that His will be done in our wills. His Spirit can shape and transform our wills if we will stop resisting and start submitting.

Jesus didn’t arrive on earth to debate theology but to propose marriage. In a very real spiritual sense, God is courting us.

These statements alone make for a worthwhile blog. I could stop writing right now but I won't.

Wednesday’s temptation discussion was and is for everyone. Steven went beyond the usual temptation issues (all things sexual including infidelity, stealing and drugs/alcohol) to the everyday, sometimes subtler temptations that dog us all: to walk away from God, to doubt, to become bitter.

Being a storyteller, Steven begins each chapter with a first-person story of a biblical person facing temptation. All are compelling and stretch the fabric of the biblical story without distorting or rewriting it. So what can we learn from Cain, David, Joseph, Naomi and Hannah, to name just a few? Practical and immediate responses for overcoming temptation:

1.      Pray that God will deliver you

2.      Remove whatever is leading you into sin, or remove yourself from the situation that’s leading you to sin

3.      Promise yourself you won’t sin (there is something quite powerful about making a covenant)

4.      Run away

5.      Tell yourself the truth about the sin (secretly reconnecting with your high school love on Facebook and getting lots of warm emotional strokes isn’t friendship, it’s – if you’re married – cheating)

My “Fix Your Thoughts on This” insight from Steven is the same one God opened my eyes to 30+ years ago:

It’s the love of God, which nurtures and expands my love for Him, that motivates and empowers me to say “no” to sin.

Steven frames it like this:

“The secret to overcoming temptation is not to try harder but to receive more of what God offers: ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age’” (Titus 2:11-12).

Amen!