Playing with Fire: The Deceitfulness of Sexual Temptation
“Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. 26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. 27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?” (Proverbs 6:25-28)
“Sex is like fire. In the fireplace it keeps us warm. Outside the fireplace it burns the house down” (Ray Ortlund)
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
On Sunday, we spoke about trials and temptations. In this week’s Word for the Week, I would like to reflect on one particular temptation that has ensnared many people and left them feeling trapped: the lust of the flesh.
If we have been taught to believe that sex is something shameful, you might be thinking, “I can’t believe we are actually talking about this!” - and if that is how we see it, the ‘fireplace’ may be pretty cold.
On the other hand, if we believe everything our pornified culture tells us about sex, we may be obsessed with it or label ourselves by our sexual desires. We might carry this fire around with us wherever we go, burning ourselves and others.
Our Proverb tells us that when sex is outside the fireplace of marriage, then it’s like putting some wood and oil on your lap, lighting it, and then wondering how you won’t get burnt. It’s like walking barefoot over burning coals, somehow thinking you won’t get blisters on your feet. Proverbs 6:27: “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?”
Fire keeps us warm, it fosters intimacy, but you don’t want to be in the outback of Australia when there are wildfires raging all around you!
The Proverb uses strong imagery to show us how irrational it is to play with fire. We even have the expression today, that might come from these verses, “Play with fire and you’ll get burned.” Some truths are self-evident. But the question is, how can we be convinced of this, yet still get burned?
Well, one reason is because Satan loves to use what is going on in our sex-obsessed culture to make the temptation to pick up some fire and start playing with it, seem almost irresistible. One of his frequent tactics to tempt us into sexual sin is to play the “You can do it just this once and then repent afterwards” card. Have you ever found yourself convinced of that lie? You can look at that clip this one time, just this once. You can read that book this one time, just this once. And then you can repent. You can always turn back to God. He’s just there waiting to forgive you.
Do you know why this trick often works? It’s half true. Yes, God is waiting to forgive you. But why are you so sure you will want to turn back to Him? After engaging in some flirting, or after watching pornography, you might be surprised to find a hardness in your heart. Maybe “just this once” turns into “just a few more times.” Maybe you can’t bring yourself to repent until weeks later when God now seems very distant.
The lying, deceitful nature of sin, especially sexual sin, is that easily hardens our heart. As we read on Sunday, Hebrews 3:13 both warns and encourages us:
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,”
so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
Friends, let me encourage us again to put this verse into practise! Let us not believe the lie that it is too late to turn back. God’s mercy is waiting for us today.
God Bless
James
