Two nights ago, I was reading the book quoted below before going to bed. I found gold. I turned to my wife, “Honey, listen to this. This is fantastic.” I read it to her. She agreed. “You should post that on your blog.” “I know.”
This captures the warrior spirit that I think captures the heart of a man. But it also gives the practical training for how to defeat sin in our lives. Bonus: You can download the book for free from the Desiring God Website. The chapters are compact and powerful. Your investment in reading them will pay huge dividends in your spiritual formation.
“Too many people think they have struggled with temptation when they have prayed for deliverance and hoped the desire would go away. That is too passive. Yes, God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure! But the effect is that we ‘work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12-13). Gouging out your eye may be a metaphor, but it means something very violent.
What this means is that we must not give a sexual image or impulse more than five seconds before we mount a violent counterattack with the mind. I mean that! Five seconds. In the first two seconds we shout, ‘NO! Get out of my head!’ In the next two seconds we cry out: ‘O God, in the name of Jesus, help me. Save me now. I am Yours.’
Good beginning. But then the real battle begins. This is a mind war. The absolute necessity is to get the image and the impulse out of our mind. How? Get a Christ-exalting, soul-captivating counter-image into the mind. Fight. Push. Strike. Don’t ease up. It must be an image that is so powerful that the other image cannot survive. There are lust-destroying images and thoughts.
For example, have you ever in the first five seconds of temptation demanded of your mind that it look steadfastly at the crucified form of Jesus? Picture this. You have just seen a peek-a-boo blouse inviting further fantasy. You have five seconds. ‘No! Get out of my mind! God help me!’ Now, immediately, demand of your mind–you can do this by the Spirit (Romans 8:13)–demand of your mind that it fix its gaze on Christ on the cross. . . .
Pierced by the Word, 31 Meditations for Your Soul
by John Piper
Chapter 16
Fight. Push. Strike. Don’t ease up
That’s how a warrior fights.
Let’s do that for the glory of Christ.
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