The one time a man should run for his life

I had just ordered my cup of earl gray black tea when I noticed an attractive woman smiling at me. I smiled back cordially.

Then she started laughing. This was unexpected.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked.

She covered her face with her hands and said, “Oh, this is too embarrassing!”

Now my curiosity was piqued. “What’s too embarrassing?”

“I just realized that my hair is all a mess and I forgot to do it this morning,” she laughed.

Her hair was not a mess. In fact, it looked like she had spent some time on it. I won’t lie, she was very pretty.

Dude, when an attractive woman tells you she looks terrible or her hair is a mess, what’s the natural response? “You look great!”

And I opened my mouth to say exactly that when I suddenly realized: I am being tempted to flirt with this woman. And it all happened within 15 seconds!

My mouth still open, I quickly changed my intended statement to, “Natural is good!”

I still needed to run from this situation. Fortunately, my business partner sat down next to me a few seconds later, and as soon as the women left I shared everything with him.

One of the fastest ways to slip into sexual temptation is to call it something else. “Oh I’m just being friendly.” “Oh, it’s not like that!”

But that convenient little lie opens a door for the enemy to turn our heart towards the desire and we’ve crossed the chasm into sin before we know it’s too late.

But know this: if you are in Jesus, it’s never too late. If you are caught in the trap of pornography, masturbation, having sex before marriage, adultery, or even flirting with women as a player, you can change this right now, today:

1. Tell a brother.

I am a living witness that you will not overcome sexual sin until you tell someone. That is why the writers of the epistles in the New Testament place a huge emphasis on open confession and accountability.

Find a man you trust who also follows Jesus and ask him to be someone you can share with every time you find yourself tempted. But you have to take the initiative on this.

Men don’t like to babysit. So tell him you will be the one to reach out when you need help–you are not asking him to keep you accountable.

You are keeping yourself accountable by reaching out to him. Of course, if he wants to reach out any time to see how you are doing, that’s a bonus!

2. Run for your life!

Sexual temptation is the one sin you cannot handle by facing it, going through it, addressing it head on.

Do a 360 and run like Joseph did. (For the record, Joseph would never have felt the urge to run if he did not honestly admit to himself that he was being tempted).

3. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you (James 4:8).

John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Notice how much that passage talks about the penance, prayers, ministry service, and weeks of sexual sobriety we need to achieve before God accepts us. None!!!

Sexual sin tells us the lie that it will be one long arduous journey to get back close to God again. That is a lie. Jesus never left your side.

He is not angry. He is not devastated or shocked. He simply loves you and accepts you right now as you are.

Look, if God needed you to clean up your act before you can be close to Him again, how on earth did you go from enemy of God and child of Satan to friend and child of God the moment you became saved?

Newsflash: God accepting you does not depend on your performance. It depends on His grace. And you cannot out-sin His grace.

But you will never feel close to God if you continue in sin. Let today be a new day. You CAN because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).