Though parts 1-3 of this series, we’ve look at the importance of protecting our spiritual gates – our eyes, our ears, our noses, our mouths, our feet, etc.-and we’ve examined practical ways of protecting them. But what happens when we do our best to protect ourselves from temptation, but the temptations arrive unawares?
We all know this happens! Perhaps we didn’t plan to go see that violent movie, but it was shown in the class we were required to attend. Or perhaps we didn’t plan to be around people who swear, but we hear it in the mall, at the grocery store, and when trying to help our elderly neighbour start his snow thrower. Or perhaps we do everything in our power to stay away from immorality, but when we are in the book store buying a magazine to take on the plane next week, our eyes inadvertently land on the latest edition of a popular porn magazine.
It is true that it is not always possible to protect ourselves from everything that could potentially lead us to sin.
So what can we do?
Joseph knew exactly what I’m talking about here.
Through no choice of his own, Joseph found himself a prisoner, miles from home, in a foreign land, a foreign culture, a foreign language, and surrounded by foreign gods. Joseph had every right to be angry, to turn away from the God of his fathers. But the Bible tells us he didn’t do so: “And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand … Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority … the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.” (Gen. 39: 2-6 NKJV)
No matter what, Joseph stayed true to God. He guarded his spiritual gates, and God blessed him.
But then something happened that Joseph had no control over:
“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph …” (Gen. 39:6b, 7a)
Interestingly, the problem here is actually rooted, not in Joseph and the guard he so carefully placed on his spiritual gates, but in the fact that his master’s wife did NOT guard her eyes! She allowed them to linger on someone who wasn’t her husband, on Joseph! And as so often happens, the more she looked at Joseph, the more she wanted him. So then she set out to tempt him: “…and she said, ‘Lie with me.'” (Gen. 39:7b)
As careful as Joseph had been, the temptation was thrown in his face!
But notice what Joseph does: “he refused.” (Gen. 39:8a)
Joseph refused! And that is what we must do as well. When we hear the name of the Lord taken in vain around us, we must maintain a sense of shock! We must ask God to not allow such words to even enter our thoughts, let alone exit our mouths! When our eyes land on that porn magazine, we must avert them and push all such thoughts of what we saw from our minds. We must ask God to purge our thoughts of the things that our eyes inadvertently took in!
But what if it happens again and again? And it did, for Joseph. The Bible tells us that she tempted him day after day!
Joseph couldn’t exactly separate himself from this temptation. He was, after all, a slave in his master’s house, so Joseph did the next best thing. “But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work … that she caught him by his garment, saying ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand and fled and ran outside.“ (Gen. 39:11,12)
Joseph was likely aware of the potential consequences of his actions, but doing what was right was more important to him than anything else. When he found himself trapped in temptation with no way out, he turned and ran!
This is the secret to freedom from sin, friends! We must put a guard over our spiritual gates. We must be very careful what we allow our eyes to see, what we allow our ear to hear, what influences we surround ourselves with. This will go a very long way towards keeping most of the temptation away from us. It will be our biggest defense we have against falling into temptation. But when we find ourselves surrounded by sin that we didn’t invite in, when we find ourselves in a “Joseph” kind of situation, then we need to adapt Joseph’s strategy! We need to flee!
Lord, help us to say no to temptation. Help us to guard our eyes and our ears and our feet. Help us to separate ourselves as much as we can from things that will be temptation. Help us to keep our minds clean, to put a guard over our thoughts, so that not even the thought of evil can enter our heads. And Lord, when we are inadvertently surrounded by temptation, help us to turn around and flee!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
(To access the entire “Protecting Your Spiritual Gates” mini-series, please click here.)