poking your eye out is the best bet

Went to class a few nights ago. The lesson was on temptation. Maybe your thinking oooh fun stuff when your sitting next to your sex addicted husband. But it wasn't that hard to sit next to him. It was a great lesson, I learned a lot. Everyone gets tempted its part of living in this world, period. The sin isn't in the being tempted part, its if you choose to linger on a thought or toy with an action. That's a grey area for many people. They figure yeah I'm not acting on it, just thinking about it. Let me clear up some grey for those who need it.

                                       Matthew 5:27-30
You know the commandment which says, "Be faithful in marriage." But I tell you that if you look at another woman and want her, you are already unfaithful in your thoughts. If your right eye causes you to sin, poke it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body, than for your whole body to end up in hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, chop it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one part of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Jesus said if you think about it, its as bad as doing it. He says if your eyes are looking, STOP. Do what you gotta do to get yourself out of that situation, yes, its that important.  Even if you have to jab your finger in your own eye. At least you wont be thinking lustful thoughts anymore, instead you'll be thinking, damn my eye hurts! Or you'll be worried that people saw you cram your finger in your own eye. Either way Jesus would perfer that, to you falling into the steps of sin. Notice he says eye before he mentions hand. It starts in the thoughts, and then leads to actions. After hand it goes quickly to hell.  Good stuff to know, being thrown into hell or poking yourself in the eye.

Of course thats not the only temptation out there, just one of the ones that stuck with me. I figure if DH comes home with an eye patch one day, I will score it as a win. God ~ 1. Temptation ~ 0.

I'm tempted with other things. Like running. I spent a good two days a few weeks back trying to convince DH how awesome it would be to put all our stuff in storage and get an RV. (Still sounds awesome!) He looked at me like I lost a screw. But to me sitting still is a form of torture. Moving is a fix. Even if its moving up the street to live in an RV.
Running can also be in the mind. Disconnecting is something I'm tempted with often. Either by busyness or drinking. Happy to say the temptation of drugs seems to be a thing of the past. Although after D-day the enemy did try to throw that fish hook at me more than once, to see if it still worked. Nope. I'm getting less in me and God is getting more. Sweet, even gaining inches deserves a high five.

I'm also tempted to take others problems and try to carry them as mine. When DH was sick in his alcohol addiction (when I knew about it), I internalized that. What wasn't I doing right? Why isn't he happy? How can I help? How can I fix it? When I discovered DH still was buried in alcoholism and way worse things than I could have dreamed up, I went right to that spot again. What did I do? That's not a healthy spot for anyone. Carrying someones sin is like carrying someones poison, it will eventually get you sick too.  Jesus is the only one built for that job.

Like everyone everywhere ever, I'm tempted everyday, with all kinds of stuff. But we are given a way out. We are PROMISED that there is always a way out of temptation.

                                             1 Corinthians 10-13
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

We are never once promised in the bible that we wont be given more than we can handle. But we will never be given more than God can handle. We are promised that we will never be given a temptation we can't handle. There will always be a way out, even if you need to stand and scream for God to help right then. (By the way screaming and freaking out in the middle of where ever, will work just as good as mangling own eye in public!) The enemy can't make you do anything, all he can do is dangle what he hopes will be appealing, in hopes you will take the bait. So if you ever come across someone saying the "devil made me do it", or other such nonsense you can totally call bull shit baloney. (I struggle with the temptation to curse, I'm working on it, I just smacked my own hand.)

When it was time for bed that night after class, DH and I were chatting about the lesson. I asked if he picked up any good tips, since I know I had. He starts telling me how much he has been tempted this week by other women..... Wow really? I was tempted to punch him right in his nose. You will be proud to know I didnt, I ended the convo by turning over and going to sleep. I didn't do so hot in avoiding temptation with my mouth though, I may have called him a name over my shoulder. 
The next day my heart was tempted to dwell on the why. Why does he look and want? Why does he think I'm boring and ugly? It was a rough day, not gonna lie.

I struggled with the flight or fight response. I wanted to pack everything and go. "Six months and he is already looking" I fussed at God. "Just look at me, not at him" was be my answer. I tried all day. I think the fact that when DH got home all he got was a luke warm reception, and not a boot up the butt is pretty huge. Its the small victory's that I'm choosing to focus on these days.

Irish Bastards Disclaimer::
{But... for the record.... No matter who you are, or what you have done, for goodness sake don't tell your wife you have been tempted by other women all week! Sheesh! We don't all have the amazing ability not to knock you out on the spot. Bring that first to God, then to a trusted christian male friend.}