October 8
“The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.” (Ecclesiastes 12:11)
In addition to scripture verses that we should regularly review to help overcome immorality and impure lusts, there are other things that are helpful to keep in mind. Some examples of things that you might put on this list include statements of truth, realizations and good thoughts you have had on this subject in the past, and insights the Lord has given you on this subject, any “Ah-ha!” moments, etc. Here are some examples of what I am talking about:
- “Passing pleasures vs eternal rewards”
- “1 second of effective prayer is worth more than a million hours of fleshly indulgence”
- “Starve the flesh. Don’t feed it anything.”
- “Sin is very, very costly in terms of souls and eternal rewards.”
- “When I sin in immoral ways, I feel very alone and distant from the Lord and all my family and friends. Loneliness is hell.”
- “I have everything I need, everything pertaining to life and godliness in Christ.”
- “My greatest and foremost work in this life is to keep myself from my sin.”
- “The pleasure God receives from my holiness is infinitely better than the pleasure I receive from indulging my fleshly appetites. I purpose to give Him pleasure rather than myself, especially since He is worthy and I am not.”
- “How could I continue to dishonor my Lord, Who loved me and gave Himself for me? He is the only one who really loves me. And would I turn my back on Him?”
- “I will become enslaved all over again if I sin against Him in this way.”
- “I will have to start all over again, repenting and struggling to overcome these sins if I give into it now.”
- “I don’t need this. It is boring, tedious, and hollow.”
- “Immorality is very, very costly.”
- “Death is coming, then judgment, then hell fire for those who don’t know and obey our Lord.”
- “Sleep and prayer are far more satisfying than immoral fleshly indulgences, both in terms of instant gratification and ongoing benefits/consequences.”
Begin working on your list of reminders and truisms. This list will include things you have learned from your pastors and others who have exhorted you to turn away from evil. The goal is to capture these things and put them into a format that will make it easy to refer to on a regular basis to remind us why we don’t want to sin and strengthen our hearts to resist immoral temptations. We will continue with this line of thinking tomorrow.