5 Temptations Men Face – #1

I will give you a very brief re-cap of our men’s leadership training that took place last night at my home.   It’s not a secret society, so I can give you some details.

Started at 6:00 P.M., took an hour to eat.  Thank you Troy Hoover for some seriously good marinated chicken.  We worshiped, I taught on 5 temptations men face.  We lit a fire (literally), a little too intense, moved a few things.  LOL!!  Had a great discussion covering the book “The Pursuit of Holiness” by Jerry Bridges, and then we went around the patio having men share the #1 temptation they wrestle with.  They had to journal for a minimum of 7 days.  One word describes what took place “Authenticity”.

Some have been asking via some networking, what are the temptations I taught on? I’ll give you 2 today, and 3 tomorrow.

First Temptation – “The Temptation of Sexual Lust.”  Roughly about 90% of men wrestle with this!

We men are visual creatures, continually creating videotapes through – movies, magazines, Internet, books, billboards/advertisements, women in general/beach, etc….

I like what R.C. Sproul said:
“Lust is not noticing that a woman is sexually attractive. Lust is born when we turn a simple awareness into a preoccupied fantasy. When we initiate sexual thoughts into our minds and nurture them, we have passed from simple awareness into lust.

Luther put it this way: “We cannot help it if birds fly over our heads. It is another thing if we invite them to build nests in our hair.”

“Temptation is sexual attraction to a beautiful woman. Sin is walking around the block for another look.”

Is there hope?  Yes, these mental videotapes can be “erased”, by:
1. forgiveness
2. time
3. fill with (Godly) “new tapes”

SOME PRACTICAL TIPS:
1. Admit your struggle.
2. Recognize the results.
3. Starve the source.
4. Take in the Word.
5. Get tough accountability.

Second Temptation- “The Temptation to Have Power and Control.”

Pride is often at the core of this issue.

We men often times live with what I call the Mohammad Ali ego, in which he said “I am the greatest. Not only do I knock
‘em out, I pick the round!”

God says though, “that He is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

God also says that “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 16:18

I think It’s okay to have a good self-image and be proud of significant accomplishments, but my understanding of pride is, it’s often a sin of comparison, in which we as men compare our strengths to the other person’s weaknesses, in order to make ourselves feel superior. It is often caused and fueled by insecurity.

The bottom line with this temptation really is:  “God is in control and we are not!”

SOME PRACTICAL TIPS:
1. Humble yourself before God.
2. Practice admitting faults.
3. Seek to learn from others.

I’ve wrestled with both of the above temptations.  How about you?