Flee youthful lusts (2 Tim 2:22) Pt. 1

Get out of there now! Run away as fast as you can! Run for your life! The temptation of youthful lusts is not a battle you are called to fight; it's a battle you are called to run away from. This may sound weird, weak and wimpy to our self-righteous, self-dependent and self-sufficient ears but sometimes we are commanded to run away. Was it weak and wimpy for Joseph to run away from Potiphar's wife? Would it have been better for him to stay in her room and watch her seduce, dance and wink her eyes at him just to prove how strong he was? In certain circumstances it takes more internal strength to flee than to fight. Paul says, "Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Cor 15:33) If you are hanging around bad people bad things will happen to your morality... run away! (Bad company can include television, movies, books and web sites) The book of Proverbs emphasizes this fact when it says "the companion of fools will be destroyed" (Pro 13:20). Sometimes spiritual living means leaving. You may think you can control yourself in a tempting situation but self-confidence is not synonymous with self-control. Youthful lusts is not a fire you want to play with. It's like playing with nuclear weapons. God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that is what he is going to reap. Running (in a youthful lust situation) is far better than regretting. Flee youthful lusts!

Lust aims its crosshairs at one or more of your five senses. Lust aims at your seeing or your hearing or your tasting or your smelling or your touching. So in regard to the five senses (see, hear, taste, smell or touch), what should youth flee from?

The Eyes - Oh be careful little eyes what you see... In our modern undressed culture, where its not so much what people are wearing as it is what they are not wearing, guarding your eyes is crucial. "It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful." (2 Sam 11:2) This was the beginning of David's troubles. Instead of turning his eyes away (fleeing) he kept looking. But looking doesn't last. Looking never satisfies. The downfall of creation began with looking. What does the Bible say about Eve in the garden? "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes..." (Gen 3:6) In our culture, today, there is temptation everywhere you look. From billboard signs to magazines racks to television commercials to the silver screen temptation is everywhere. Now, with the internet, you can lust after anything imaginable anonymously in just one point and click. Sex sells and they are selling it everywhere. There is a very short line between seeing and sinning. You can't always keep yourself from seeing something you shouldn't but you can keep a glance from becoming a gaze. As they say, you can't keep a bird from flying over your head but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair. Jesus especially emphasized the seriousness of seeing. "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." (Matt 5:27-29) No one can say "I was just looking" as an excuse. Looking is the first step towards liscentiousness. When your eyes are being tempted turn away and flee youthful lusts.

To be continued...