How to get along on the planet, follow Christ,
and have a good time while you're at it.

Part Five: Run, Run, Run!

Ok, well, you've made the commitment to yourself and to God.  You are going to live the way He wants you to, and follow His rules.  But some of those rules are pretty hard, aren't they, sometimes.  A gigantic one for some people is abstinence from sex before marriage.  Have you ever noticed how often you are bombarded with some type of sexual message?  It's all over the TV, and if you have cable, you know exactly what I mean!  It's in the movies, the magazines.  Sometimes it seems as if that's all anyone ever wants to talk about.   What is the solution if you want to honor God and yourself by working hard at being pure?

If you read a story in the Bible, it may give you an idea.  Take a look at Genesis 39, the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife.

There's no question, Potiphar's wife must have been some pretty spectacular looking lady!  How on earth could Joseph possibly resist her?  But he did exactly that! So, what did he do?  He ran! 

What were the results?  Well, in the short run, maybe Joseph was frustrated, sexually.  That might very well be a quite natural response to the pass this very pretty lady made at him.  And Potiphar's wife, out of pure spite because she was mad at Joseph for rejecting her, spoke false witness against him and had him thrown in jail, too.  But God helped him with both troubles.  The Bible tells us that God was kind to Joseph, and gave him success in whatever he did.

What can this mean for you?  Sex is one of the toughest things to handle in life.  There is no surefire 100% success over every sexual temptation.  Teenagers have an especially difficult time.   Social pressures are worse than ever, on top of the chaos of your growing and changing bodies.  But God understands you and how difficult this part of your life can be.  And He has a way to help you.  You can learn from Joseph.  He did the smart thing, and ran.  By asking God to help you, you can learn to run too.

Don't worry about your past failures to think good thoughts, or to do or say the right thing.  God can and will forgive you if you ask Him.  Look to the future and begin today to ask God to help you, like Joseph did.  Dedicate yourself and your purity to God.

Here are five ways you can run from sexual sin:

1. Pray. I know, sounds so simple, it's silly.  But it really is your first and best help.  For anything that concerns you!

2. You can't help seeing and appreciating a good-looking guy or girl.  RUN from spending any time at all thinking sexual thoughts about them.

3. RUN by not stopping even to look at a pornographic magazine you see in a store.  Don't stare at the cover, don't pick it up and leaf through it even for a minute!

4. RUN by changing the channel on the TV when a show that will give you trouble with your thoughts comes on.

5. RUN by not rehashing in your mind the comments made by other kids whose standards are different from yours.

Joseph ran away from sin.  By remembering to ask God to help you, you can too!