Flee youthful lusts!
It is very important that we understand that being tempted is not the same as sinning. Especially when it is about your thought life and youthful lusts. I sin when I give in to temptation - not before.
“Flee youthful lusts!” is what the apostle Paul tells the young man Timothy. (2 Timothy 2:22.) Youthful lusts include a lot of different areas in a young person’s life, but maybe the strongest and most common is the area of sexual desire. This natural desire is not sin in itself and is a blessing God has given within marriage, but the Bible makes it clear that to give in to these desires outside marriage is sin, even in our thought life. But this desire can be so strong that “fleeing” sometimes just looks impossible.
A very clear line
But even in all these feelings, emotions and impure desires which the Bible calls “youthful lusts”, there is a very clear line between being tempted and doing sin. If you are struggling with these lusts and feelings and struggle to overcome them, then it is very important for you to know that being tempted is not the same as sinning.
Maybe until now, you did not know the difference between temptation and sin. Many people think that they sin when they are tempted. And you can be sure that the devil takes advantage of this. He will accuse you of sinning anytime you see an attractive guy or girl. He tells you that you have already sinned the moment you look at something or someone, or the moment a thought comes up in your head. He is trying to take away your motivation to take up a battle against these youthful lusts! For if you think you have already “sinned”, why would you still want to fight?
Through our whole life there will be temptations. But it only becomes sin if we give in to these temptations. And if we understand that, then we fight against temptations and don’t give in to them, and start to live an overcoming life.
“And you He made alive …”
“And to you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins, in which you were living in the past, after the ways of this present world, doing the pleasure of the lord of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in those who go against the purpose of God; among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.” Ephesians 2:1-3 (BBE).
He gave you life; another translation says, “And you He made alive.” This is truly grace from a caring and loving God! Not only are your sins forgiven, but to be made alive means that God Himself has reached out and made you aware of your heavenly calling! This doesn’t mean that your sinful human nature has gone away, or that your natural desires just go away until you get married. But now you are aware that the sins you were bound by all start out as a temptation. And a temptation is something you can resist and overcome.
In James 1:14 (GNT) it says, “But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires.” It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? To be drawn away and trapped almost sounds like you’ve sinned already. But it’s only a temptation, a look into what your human nature is full of. And, most importantly, it’s an opportunity for you to overcome!
What do you allow yourself to watch and read and listen to?
If you want to break free from youthful lusts, you need to take it extremely seriously, especially if it’s something you know you’ve been giving in to for some time.
After you’ve sincerely and wholeheartedly converted to God, you have to really think about what you will allow yourself to watch, read and listen to. You may ask, “But don’t I have the freedom to watch what I like?” The simple answer is: “No!” You can only get peace in this area of youthful lusts by taking it very seriously, and that means to flee from these lusts, and fight hard not to give in to them!
By being humble enough to take a radical stand in this stage, you not only show God you’re serious, you also save yourself from many, many unnecessary temptations!
So when exactly does temptation become sin?
So if you don’t watch impure movies, for example, you avoid the temptations that would come from watching movies full of impurity. But what if you accidently see something impure, like an impure advertisement?
Jesus said clearly: “If anyone looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, in his mind he has already done that sin with the woman.” Matthew 5:27-28 (NCV). Jesus doesn’t say, “Whoever sees a woman…” Wanting to sin sexually with someone is a conscious decision, if you look at a woman with that purpose, then you already sin in your heart, and this is the first step to physically doing it. Even if you never go so far as to physically doing it, giving in to these lusts in your thoughts is stopping you from being a true disciple. For to be a disciple you need to have an undivided heart!
But what should you do when you accidently see something impure?
If you accidently see an impure advertisement, for example, then you have a choice! If you obey the words of Jesus, and look away from the advertisement, you have not sinned! This will not be easy, because your lusts actually want you to keep looking at it.
But you don’t have to do it alone. God will send His Spirit to give you the strength to hold out in the temptation, so that you don’t give in to that desire, or as it’s written in Galatians 5:17, “… so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
It’s in everyday temptations like this that you will understand why Jesus had to pray to God very earnestly, and you will find yourself doing the same. (Hebrews 5:7-8.) Prayers in the middle of “battle” are not always carefully thought-out words. “Dear God, I do not want to sin! I do not want to sin!” might be the desperate cry of your heart which you repeat until you sense the battle is over and the temptation loses its power. But it is a prayer according to God’s own heart!
Saying No as soon as you see you are tempted
To firmly say No as soon as you realise you are being tempted is extremely important, otherwise it can easily develop and become a “secret” sin that you allow to grow in your heart.
The more watchful and God-fearing you are, the quicker you will be to react in temptation. You will become one of those “whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14 (CEB).
But those who “follow the ways of this present world” on the other hand, have their “senses trained” in how best to give in to “the desires of the flesh and of the mind”. (Ephesians 2:1-3.) You can see this clearly in the way a man or woman may follow a good-looking person with their eyes. In a situation like this, you as a disciple of Jesus Christ, should take up the battle against the impure curiosity that you are tempted to and crush it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
People who are aware of their weakness and are humble enough to avoid placing themselves in unnecessary temptations have an upright attitude of heart. God gives such people grace, not only to see the difference between temptation and sin, but also grace for it to succeed in their fight against youthful lusts – lusts that are the source of so much misery and which most people are slaves to, long past their youth time.