How to resist sexual temptation now! (Part 2)

I started with a brief solution to the problem of present tense sexual temptation--for those who are being tempted right now! I explored spirit, soul, and body as sources of temptation, in that order. I will now reverse the order: body , soul, and spirit.

After all, sex is about the body, though not only the body. It is physical. It is sensual.

Let's start where it starts: physical attraction.

The word of God is very practical in this way. The first example I know of in scripture dealing with the successful resistance of very real and present sexual temptation is in the story of Joseph. Joseph was a handsome and well built young man. Potiphar, an Egyptian ruler, had a wife who was very sexually attracted to Joseph. She made it plain. "Lie with me!" Her words can be put two other ways: "Sleep with me," or more directly, "Have sex with me!" The temptation can't get plainer than that. How did Joseph resist?

He refused.

Pay close attention to that.

There is nothing mysterious or "spiritual" about what he did. He said, and meant, "no!" Why? Because of the goodness of God in his life, and the vileness of the sin of dishonoring God's goodness.

The goodness of God.
The vileness of dishonoring God's goodness.

These two things fueled the Joseph's resistance.

Potiphar's wife tempted him over and over again. And over and over again, Joseph resisted her. He refused to have sex with her or even to be with her. He refused the act, and the opportunity for the act, based upon his honor of God's goodness to him.

Paul said that the Old Testament was written that we may learn from the examples given. Joseph was a man. Potiphar's wife was a woman. In the last temptation Joseph experienced, he ran! As it is written, "Flee sexual immorality." Potiphar's wife would not take "no" for an answer. But Joseph would not change "no" as his answer. She accused Joseph of attempted rape, and Joseph was sentenced to life in an Egyptian dungeon prison. God was with Joseph and rescued him, exalting him as ruler over Egypt, second to Pharaoh alone.

So, how do you resist temptation now?

Refuse.
Refuse to yield.
Refuse to commit the sinful sexual act, or to even allow an opportunity for the act to occur.
Refuse based upon the goodness of God in your life, and how evil it would be to sin in this way.

If you are married, look at God's goodness in giving you a wife or husband. So many are single and want exactly, and even literally, what you have. Some want your husband or your wife. If that doesn't motivate you to be faithful, not much will. How terrible is it to imagine your wife or husband committing adultery, and enjoying it? Isn't' that a nightmarishly horrifying thought? Would you want to bring about this nightmare for your wife or husband, the only one who committed to you, who said "I do" for all of this time? Even if you haven't been married long, you chose to marry this person for a reason. Honor that reason.

If you are unmarried, look at the goodness of God in giving marriage, and sex in marriage. He gives a guarantee of intimacy, physically and spiritually. Fornication and adultery come with no guarantee. Quite the opposite. Can you trust and adulterer or adulteress. By definition, it is certain that you cannot! And fornication, by definition, is no different. The essence of fornication is a lack of commitment. No strings attached. Friendship with "benefits."

But is there really a benefit in commitmentless sex? I mean really? On the surface, the pleasure without the drama of committed relationship seems enticing. But who doesn't want the guarantee of intimacy that comes with marriage? Do boyfriends and girlfriends and partners have this guarantee? Some would say they do. So be it. This is a commitment, and in essence a marriage. There is an assumed promise of faithfulness and exclusiveness. Thus boyfriends and girlfriends think of unfaithfulness as "cheating." (For those who may not know the difference between adultery and fornication, adultery is when a married person has sex outside of his or her marriage, while fornication is sex between two unmarried people.)

Whether married or unmarried, temptation, and situations of temptation, can be flatly refused. God's goodness motivates this, in marriage and outside of marriage. Let God's goodness motivate you to resist, and to enjoy the spouse he gave you, or wait for the spouse he will give you. While you wait, if you are waiting, God makes a way for you to bear your desires. We'll talk more about this later.