How to Use "The Lust Dare"
Day #12: Out in Public.
“The lamp is the body of the eye. If, therefore your eye is good, your
whole body will be full of light.” –Matthew 6:22
Unfortunately, even if we never watch a movie, look at a
magazine, read a book, or glance at a catalog, we will still be surrounded by
the world, and the lusts that ensue from that. We still run into problems when
we go out into public. Some people who fight against lust, for instance, like
to call summer the season of looking at the sidewalk.
In the warmer months, there are so many men and women
wearing revealing clothes. Women like to wear skimpy tops with low cleavage, or
even skip the shirt altogether and go running in a sports bra. And though we
don’t live in the 70’s, where guys wore those gross little shorts, praise the
Lord, there is still the issue of them skipping a shirt when either swimming or
running.
I can not remember the amount of times that I had to look
away even when I took my little siblings to play at the park because a guy was
running without a shirt. And to be completely honest, not all of the guys were
bad looking. It can be quite the temptation to take another glance some days.
For me, there has always been an additional temptation that
I face when in public, or more specifically in the presence of married couples.
My parents are a prime example, as they have no problem embracing and kissing
openly in the middle of the living room or the kitchen. Whereas I think this is
wise, and it really helps the kids feel secure and love each other more because
they so clearly see the love of their parents displayed, as I grew older, this
was difficult for me.
It really was no different than watching people on TV kiss.
Nothing wrong with watching it, but it often tempted me to imagine a guy doing
that with me someday, and off my thoughts went into that land where they did
not belong. For a while, when I was really not capable of keeping my thought
life pure, I stopped watching when my parents began to kiss. Before that, I
usually didn’t look away.
So once again, there was an issue of where my mind was going
to go. But I read some great advice on that which helped me to realize what
fixing our eyes on the right things really means. So again, to I am going to
reference Joshua Harris. After all, it was his words that really changed my
life.
“It helps me to
remember that my eyes are actively obeying my heart. They don’t have minds of
their own. They’re obeying me. So it’s my job to command them to obey God. They
don’t have to see everything around them. If an attractive girl(or guy) walks by, they don’t have to survey her/his body. But they must obey Jesus Christ. I’ve
offered my eyes to God to be used in His service. Because Jesus died for me, my
eyes are no longer tools in the service of sin-they can and must obey God.”
We must choose this day to let our eyes serve God.
“And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of
righteousness to God.” -Romans 6:13
Today’s Dare
For the last 11 days,
we have been talking about things that trigger lust and how to avoid them.
Today review that entire list, and take note of your 3 top lust triggers. Make
sure that you have and are taking active steps to fight against these triggers.
Realize that in order to win the battle and to present your members as
instruments of righteousness that you are going to have to take difficult and
radical steps. Do not back down from this, because in God you can have the victory!
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