"When you were born, you were married-married to a companion who will walk the road of life with you until the end. You will never awaken any morning or retire any night without this companion's being right at your side. This companion will never leave you. Whether you like it or not, you and this partner will be together until death do you part. Temptation - your lifelong companion.

Everyone is tempted. Temptation knows no strangers. Everyone is tempted, and always will be. Ir is like germs that we carry with us that attack us when our resistance is down. No isolation from people will isolate us from temptation. The priest in his secluded monastery, the hermit in his secret cave, the prisoner in his lonely cell, these all know temptation .... If you have a mind through which you think, you'll be tempted through that mind. If you have a body in which you live. you'll be tempted through that body. lf you have a social nature by which you enjoy other people, you'll be tempted by other people. If you are a sexual being, you'll have sexual temptations (Petersen, 90-91).

What to do about it? Petersen suggests six things.

First, develop a biblical conscience. Educate it with Scripture, and strengthen it through memorization and meditation.

Second, defuse it by not fearing it. Every temptation is an opportunity to defeat the devil.

Third, decide irrevocably if you want victory. If you don't want it badly and commit to it, you'll be in grave danger.

Fourth, determine your response ahead of time. Predetermine how you will react, before the pressure hits.

Fifth, discipline your mind with counter­action. Don't leave your mind a vacuum, but fill it with things that encourage faithfulness.

Sixth, follow Christ as your example. He was totally committed to doing his father's will. He countered temptation by quoting Scripture that he had memorized. He guarded his mind from tempting thoughts and spent time cultivating an eternal perspective.

In the face of the kind of temptation we face today, and in light of the exhortations of Solomon, we would all do well to take the message of Proverbs to heart, realizing that each of us is vulnerable to temptation. If we accept our vulnerability ahead of time and put the safety measures into place up front, we'll be more secure from sexual temptation.

(This article is from the Holman Old Testament Commentary - Proverbs - General Editor and Author: Max Anders)

(Editorial Note: Reading and studying the Book of Proverbs is a good source of knowledge, understanding leading to wisdom and building character in Leading us NOT into temptation. The Book of Proverbs is a fountain of information for living everyday of our life, walking in God’s way and in the footsteps of Jesus.)

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