“..that you should put away the old self of your former
way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit
of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in
righteousness and holiness of truth.” - Ephesians 4:22-24
Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to
the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to
the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the
body, you will live." - Romans 8:12-13
One time I bought a handful of bolts and nuts and kept
them inside my toolbox, mixed with the old rusty screws in one compartment. A
few days later when I needed to use them again, I found out, to my dismay, that
they have already become rusty as well. Being a technical person, I should have
foreseen that mixing ordinary metals with rusty metals will undoubtedly lead to
contamination.
Lesson learned.
After I got married, I have made a personal vow to live a
pure and chaste intimate with my wife and my wife alone. Slowly, I veered away
from all my previous college activities of “fun” activities of
beer-drinking-to-get-drunk, men’s bar hopping, print-porn viewing and vulgar
huddles. I believe with all my heart that for me to succeed, I must “put away
the old self of my former way of life”. There were ups and downs. I would say
that for ninety-five percent of the time, it is working for me. I also observed
that the five percent instances when I was failing always happened during those
prolonged times that I was away I from my family, a sad reality of being an
OFW, and coupled with the easy accessibility of red-district websites. And so,
to finally cut off even the slightest chance of any slip back, I made the
irrevocable personal decision that wherever my wife and kids are, there I must
be as well. No ifs and no buts. All for one and one for all. Not a slightest
distance in between. So far and by God’s grace, I have more success with this
basic life decision. Am I fully clean? Not by long shot. But the odds are much
more favourable than ever.
All of us have our own spiritual struggles and challenges
because we are humans with natural tendencies towards the desires of the body
and flesh. Men, in particular, are visually enticeable. The good news is that
God’s grace and mercy are enough to help us turn back from our sinful tendencies,
to put off our “old” ways and be “new” in everything that we think, say and do.
Whether we are presently in a sinful situation or we are struggling to keep
straight in our chosen path to holiness, God will be there to guide and to
strengthen our resolve to persevere in doing good.
They key for us is to “put away” the occasion of sins. We
all know that the well-known seven capital sins are more of seven occasional
magnets to commit sins – pride, anger, lust, sloth, jealousy, envy and greed.
We must avoid them altogether. It will even serve us better to search deeper on
what really exposes us to these seven occasions so we can cut off the root even
before the temptation sprouts. Remember that a sober and fully-recovered former
drunkard will never dare to take that first liquor-sip again lest he put
himself into high-risk of drinking again. No sip, no slip. We, too, must be
fully aware of and admit our weakness in order for us to circumvent the
teeny-weeny tiniest chance for us to desire to re-test the murky waters.
Sounds like a tall order, right?
Yes, but there is a way.
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will
act.” - Psalm 37:4
“But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and
guard you from the evil one” - 2 Thessalonians 3:3
By our own strength, we will always give-in in the face
of irresistible invitations of the flesh and body.
But with God’s strength and our faith, the impossible
will be doable.
God bless.
