By Jon Burnett
16 March 2005
One of the many important lessons that Jesus sought to impart to His disciples was that sin doesn�t happen overnight; it�s a gradual process that leads us away, not steals us. To this end He prayed, �And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one� (Matt 6:13). Satan isn�t an animal tearing away its prey; he lures us in by convincing us we�re supposed to be with him (Jam 1:14,15). Often we see him use this very tactic and ask how it happened to us. We hear a parent say, �She used to be such a nice girl!� or, �And to think he had wanted to be a preacher!� and can�t seem to grasp how such a sin could ever happen to our kids.
To paraphrase a good brother, Dave Miller, we�re the only country in the world to flaunt our young girls scantily dressed for all the world to see and then wonder why we have a teen sex problem. Often the signs are clear that darker days are around the corner. Christ Himself said to expect the �cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things� to enter in and choke the word, destroying whatever possibility of becoming fruitful (Mk 4:19).
We cannot constantly bombard ourselves with the ideas and behavior of the world and expect it to never translate into our own sinful actions. Solomon warned, �Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, And his feet not be seared?� (Prov 6:27,28). Though we claim otherwise, this is usually our mode of operation, somehow expecting to expose ourselves to enough fire to strengthen us without getting burned. Let God bring the trials and not make ourselves easier targets for Satan�s devices!
Jesus Christ has called us to a much higher calling than ever possible without Him (Jn 10:1-4), yet often we expect God to pull us out of places we should have never been! Yes, Jesus prayed for relief from temptation, but His apostle by inspiration of His Spirit also said, �Flee sexual immorality� (1 Cor 6:18, emphasis mine). Paul didn�t say, �Well it won�t happen to good young Christians, I can trust them!� or, �They could be doing a lot worse!� he said they had no place being there.
Unfortunately that is often the way we treat lust. It�s the way we treat the worldliness outside; the standard we lead by. We�ve been asking the wrong questions. It�s not just about giving up our favorite songs, movies, magazines, or even friends; it�s about pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim 2:22).
Just as the word is the seed of the spirit, there are many seeds of the flesh, prominent in the worldliness saturating our young people. Why care what they watch, listen to, and wear? Because lewdness isn�t a spectator sport; watching gets old� fast.