Sexual Purity Part II: Flee
I’ve been on holidays for all of July- and haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and write blog posts… I’m too busy doing home renovations and playing with my kids to write anything substantial. So I am borrowing from the best- one of my favorite youth ministers, theology professors, musicians, and bloggers (as well as the 2011 Holy Trinity Parish youth rally speaker, Bob Rice. You can check out his website at www.bob-rice.com. This is the second of 6 postings he’s shared this summer on sexual purity, originally posted at http://www.bob-rice.com/bob-rice.com/Welcome/Entries/2010/7/15_Running_Away.html
Last blog, I began a list of tips to help with sexual purity. They are:
1)Whatever
2) Flee
When St. Paul talked about sexual immorality, he gave one simple piece of advice:
Run away.
Check this out:
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18)
Running away might sound cowardly to some, but it’s pretty stupid to fight you know you can’t win.
The sexual act is something that is both natural and supernatural. It involves our bodies and our souls. Sexual temptation is also both natural and supernatural. So it makes sense that we will need to face this temptation using natural and supernatural means.
The supernatural means is through prayer, being open to the grace God is pouring out upon us to free us from sin and keep us from impurity. But that supernatural grace compels us to natural actions. What’s a natural action? Literally, it means I get up and walk away.
If you’re in a situation with your boyfriend or girlfriend and things are starting to get out of control, get up and walk away. I’m not kidding. The only other option is sin. Don’t just lie on the couch together. Get up and go for a walk around the block. If you’re sitting at your computer and are tempted to look at pornography, turn off the computer, get up and walk away. I mean, it’s really difficult to look at pornography on your computer when you computer is turned off and you are in another room.
You have to ask God for the strength to do this. In those moments, it can feel like everything in you will fight against such a simple action as standing up and walking away. But don’t forget that God is in you, too. And like St. Paul said, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.
Next Blog: Avoid!
(Copyright 2010 www.bob-rice.com)
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