What to do when the temptation of the flesh grips one's senses?
To many men, including Christians, giving in to lust—regardless of its consequences—is so much easier to do than to resist.
According to Pastor Greg Laurie, many men are able to engage in illicit sex without being bothered by their conscience because they have given God a "makeover," making Him a "user-friendly deity."
These men would say to themselves, "Let's make God politically correct. Let's make God someone who won't demand anything of us, yet we can still have a religion that will satisfy the quest we have inside us. And it also will appease our guilt-ridden conscience," says Laurie in an op-ed piece he wrote for WND.
Thus, these men could still claim that they worship God. But Laurie says this is not the God of the Bible. "It's some other god that we have created in our own image. And it is this very idolatry that can ultimately lead to rationalising our behavior and saying it's really OK," Laurie writes. "It can be like a wildfire that quickly spreads, something that starts out small and then gets out of control, leading to total devastation."
Laurie cites the story of King David to drive home the point that no matter how close to God a man is, he could still be tempted to indulge in illicit sex and thus fall from grace.
In the Bible, David was portrayed as very close to God, Laurie says. In the book of Psalms, David spoke of his love for the Lord, saying, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. ... The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. ... Because Your loving kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You" (42:1; 23:1–2; 63:3 NKJV).
But despite his love of God, David fell into sin when he lusted for Bathsheba when he saw her taking a bath. He continued to pursue her despite finding out later that Bathsheba already had a husband, Uriah, a soldier in David's army. David then led Uriah to his death when he placed him at the frontline of his army during a battle where he was killed by the enemy.
Despite David's sins, God forgave him. "But he reaped what he sowed. He saw the very sins that he had committed repeated in the lives of his own children," Laurie says.
Hence, "for a few moments of pleasure, David had a lifetime of regrets," says the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California.
Laurie says people can't stop themselves from seeing things that arouse their sexual urge—like images displayed on billboard, TV or computer screen, or "someone who walks across your path."
But Laurie says there's a "difference between seeing something and putting yourself in a place where you know you'll see things."
"It has been said, 'Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny," the pastor says.
So, what should a man do when he sees things that arouse his sexual urge?
Laurie says he cannot offer "a magic formula for never being tempted again. It's a daily battle. It's a daily walk, as is everything in the Christian life."
But "an intense love for God and for your spouse will see you through the rough waters of sexual temptation," he says.
He offers another piece of advice to men who are being tempted to commit adultery: Never lower your defences. "The moment you lower your guard, you become an easy target," he says.
