Avoid the Flesh in All Areas of Your Life
Romans 13:14 says, "Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." In other words, don't give the devil a stick to hit you with! If you know you are weak in a certain area and you walk into temptation in that area, you're being a fool. You're walking into an ambush. Get yourself out of harm's way.
We may honestly say we would never think of cheating on our wives, but we can still make plenty of provision for the flesh by the things we hear, see, and read. The Bible says, "As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).
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Recalling this verse, one guy said it was a wonder he didn't turn into a girl when he was about sixteen, because that's all he thought about. We need to develop some mental toughness in this area. I've been working on that because I grew up in the television generation when kids were pretty pampered. It's just as tempting for me as it is for the next guy to plop down in front of the TV after a long day and start channel-surfing.
It takes mental and spiritual toughness to say to yourself, No, I'm not going to sit here and do this tonight. I'm going to say no to my flesh. A man no longer has to make any real effort to find sexual stimuli. The effort comes in removing it from our lives. Almost on a weekly basis I hear about men who are captured by porneia on the Internet. This is rapidly becoming the greatest moral crisis in men's lives.
Abstain from Every Form of Evil
That's why Paul counseled Timothy, "Flee also youthful lusts" (2 Tim. 2:22). Run from it. This is one time you don't want to stand and try to fight. The old King James Version says, "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). That means every time evil raises its ugly head, get out of there.
I don't go to lunch with any woman but my wife, unless it's in a group. I don't counsel women in my office unless the door is open and my secretary is eight feet away.
You say, "Well, are you that suspicious of women or of yourself?" Not necessarily. I just don't want to give the devil a foothold. As a matter of fact, I run just a little bit scared because I know what I need to do to protect myself.
If a situation looks like trouble, it probably is. But I'm afraid that some men who wouldn't think of walking down the street at night if they saw a gang of thugs lingering under a streetlight will walk into sexually compromising situations with their eyes wide open. Maybe you remember the sergeant on the old television police drama Hill Street Blues who would tell the officers going out on their shift, "Be careful out there." That's a good word for a man of God.