Yes, we are to flee from sexual immorality. Don’t enter into a conversation with it, or in any way engage it whatsoever. Eve discussed things with the Tempter, and she was as good as dead as soon as she entered into a dialogue. And so are we. Discussion and dialogue equals death!
When we are first coming out of impurity, our impure thoughts are initially quite strong and intense; even dreams can be very vivid.
But what happens over time is that, as we focus on the cross of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit begins His work of transformation. Christ begins to live in our hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:17), and He knocks down strongholds of impurity, just like when the ark of God was set up in the temple and knocked over the idol Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-4).
Be assured that over time the impure images get dimmer; they lose their vividness and luster, and then we can’t even recall them anymore. Impure dreams also stop after a time.
About a month ago, I drove my car to the airport and parked, flew for a week and then returned, but when I got back to my car and opened the door, I was blown away by the smell. A mouse had found its way into the car (I noticed he had nibbled on various parts of the interior), and subsequently died in there and the odor was horrible. Well, I never did find the mouse, and the smell is diminishing a little, but it's still there even after a month. It will eventually dissipate entirely.
Impure thought-strongholds can be like that dead mouse, presenting a noxious odor to our spiritual lives and can stay around quite a while, but will eventually dissipate and go away. As we flee from sexual impurity, it keeps us from adding any other "dead mouse," any different images to our minds.
In our passage today the reason given as to why we are to flee from sexual immorality is because to sin in this way is to sin against our own body. It’s the only sin like it. In self-gratification and sexual immorality, we are abusing our bodies!
Therefore we are taught to flee from it, not flirt with it. We are not to see how close we can come to the fire without getting burned, or how close we can come to the cliff without falling off.
Question 3. How can you apply this instruction from God’s Word in your own life?
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