Freedom from Sexual Addiction
Run from Temptation, and
Don't Leave a Forwarding Address
Charles Haddon Spurgeon – edited by Neill Morris
She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. – Genesis 39:12
When faced with certain sins there remains no way out but flight. The ancient naturalists wrote about venomous snakes whose eyes hypnotized their victims and rendered them helpless. Likewise, today the mere gaze at the wrong thing puts us in serious danger. Any man who wants to refrain from acts of evil must quickly run from temptation.. We must make a covenant with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant.
Who would intentionally enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? The answer: Only one who wants to be a leper would immerse himself there.
If a sailor knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of entering it. Cautious ship pilots have no desire to see how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may scrape against a rock without springing a leak. Their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.
Today I may be exposed to great peril. Let me have the serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may appear odd by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; for it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative for me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no amount of ridicule by others, nothing the world has to offer must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. Of course, as scripture says, “I am to resist the devil, and he will flee.” But the lusts of the flesh, I must myself flee, or they will surely overcome me.
O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs from the trap of any seducing woman or her image. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!