TEMPTATION …
From Ted Haggard to Tiger Woods we’ve a real problem on our hands! Let me share a story from the Bible that could have been taken from the evening news …
“With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life.” Prov 7:21-23
Will you be victim! How do you know you are heading down the bad path?
1) Are you keeping secrets from your spouse? Transparancy is not an option.
2) Are you lying about your whereabouts? Accountability is not an option.
3) Are you trashing the worth of your marriage, family, and future?
4) Are you letting your mind live in a cyber-world of fantasy, porn & perversion?
5) Are you convincing yourself that no one will ever find out about your affair?
6) Are you believing the Grass is Greener Lie? The same lie & sin since day one.
7) Are you allowing God’s law to become irrelevant? What a great moral tragedy.
As the infidelities of Tiger Woods sent shock waves around the world, my fear is that the sacredness of Marriage is what’s being run over here. My intent is not to judge but to provide some preventative counter measures with the hopes of saving what sin is trashing and sparing some marriages from similar moral failure. The truth is, none of us is spared from the LURE of temptation. But with the temptation God provides for us a way out. (1Cor 10:13) So why don’t we take it? Why do so many surrender to Temptation, rather than surrendering to the Lord and as a result end up destroying their lives in the process?
The story we began with in Proverbs 7 continues … pay close attention to this: “Now therefore, listen to me; Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death.” (v24-27)
God provides a graphic picture here in the book of Proverbs so we’d know where the path of temptation leads if fully followed. True, many choose to ignore it. I pray you don’t.
So here are some fundamental musts in keeping your marriage strong & healthy …
1) Honesty … full disclosure. Start hiding things from each other and you’re in danger.
2) Priority … the covenant you have made needs to remain your greatest commitment.
3) Fidelity … stay faithful, loyal, dependable to your spouse. Trust needs treasured.
4) Belief … in your marriage, yourself, your kids, and the Lord (see Ephesians 5)
Tiger has proven you can have a billion bucks, a bombshell bride, and a brilliant golf swing and still be bored with it all and in search of more. Why is that? Because none of those things (or all of them combined) can satisfy our longings. Only Christ can do that. Without the Lord, our wandering hearts will remain fidgety, bored, selfish, angry, and will ultimately self-destruct. Satan has a threefold strategy with which he employs to attack our marriages daily. He seeks to steal, kill and destroy. The Bible doesn’t talk about name recognition, but it does talk about name protection. “A good name is rather to be had than great riches” Prov 22:1.
Temptation can’t be tamed without the help, power and strength of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we talk about giving our hearts’ to Jesus, listen, that’s not meant to solely be some spiritual conception. It’s a complete package of surrendering our entire selves; mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually yielding our beliefs, thoughts, plans and passions over to the loving control of Jesus Christ. The first thing every failed marriage needs is God’s forgiveness. How wonderful for us to know today that God’s grace is greater than God’s judgment! He Loves us. He seeks to restore and heal and revive. What the enemy has meant for evil God can redeem. Let Him do that. Cliff Barrows provides twelve words sure to turn a troubled marriage around … I WAS WRONG; I AM SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I LOVE YOU.
I encourage you, give it a try. Turn your marriage and love-life over to the love of the Lord Jesus. Steer clear from anything and everyone that means you harm and aims to destroy what the Lord calls Holy and Sacred, which includes you and your marriage. Love God; Love Marriage; Love each other. May God bless you.