Day 9: ANTHEM — Strategies for Fighting Lust
Devotional
These are six tested and proven strategies for fighting lust. I have in mind men and women. For men it’s obvious. The need for warfare against the bombardment of visual temptation to fixate on sexual images is urgent. For women it is less obvious, but just as great if we broaden the scope of temptation to food or figure or relational fantasies. When I say “lust” I mean the realm of thought, imagination, and desire that leads to sexual misconduct. So here is one set of strategies in the war against wrong desires. I put it in the form of an acronym, A N T H E M.
A – Avoid as much as is possible and reasonable the sights and situations that arouse unfitting desire.
I say “possible and reasonable” because some exposure to temptation is inevitable. And I say “unfitting desire” because not all desires for sex, food, and family are bad.
N – Say “No” to every lustful thought within five seconds.
And say it with the authority of Jesus Christ. “In the name of Jesus, NO!” You don’t have much more than five seconds. Give it more unopposed time than that, and it will lodge itself with such force as to be almost immovable.
T – Turn the mind forcefully toward Christ as a superior satisfaction.
Saying “no” will not suffice. You must move from defense to offense. Fight fire with fire. Attack the promises of sin with the promises of Christ.
H – Hold the promise and the pleasure of Christ firmly in your mind until it pushes the other images out.
Fix your eyes on Jesus (see Hebrews 12:2). Here is where many fail. They give in too soon. They say, “I tried to push it out, and it didn’t work.” I ask, “How long did you try?
E – Enjoy a superior satisfaction.
Cultivate the capacities for pleasure in Christ. One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal.
M – Move into a useful activity away from idleness and other vulnerable behaviors.
Lust grows fast in the garden of leisure. Find a good work to do, and do it with all your might.
--John Piper, adapted from ANTHEM: Strategies for Fighting Lust
Proverbs 6:20-35
20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 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?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Application
Piper states that “Lust grows in the garden of leisure.” What leisure activities do you need to cut out that may be feeding lust in your life?
What promises of Christ can you meditate on and embrace to fight the deceitfulness of sin and experience satisfaction in Him?