Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Emergency Exit Theme for this Week: Defense! Monday, February 4, 2002
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January/February 200251Emergency ExitTheme for this Week: Defense!Monday, February 4
Key Bible Verses: Run away from her! Don't go near the door of her house! If you do, you will lose your honor (Proverbs 5:8-9). Bonus Reading: 5:1-23
I am a happily married man. I'm also a red-blooded male. Not long ago, after officiating at a wedding ceremony, a stunning, tall, dark-haired woman with a figure that would make Stevie Wonder turn his head came over to the table where I was sitting and began flirting with me. During our conversation, she told me that she liked my voice and that she hoped to find a guy her age that reminded her of me.
I did everything I could to shake the encroaching lust, but the flames were out of control. In an attempt to find some objectivity, I even told this woman that I'd be happy to preside at her wedding ceremony when she found the right guy. Even this noble attempt to be honorable didn't work. I was still on fire.
Finally, I panicked. I said I had to leave to return home to my wife and kids who were expecting me. I rushed out of the reception room and got to my car where I was literally pouring sweat. As I exited the parking garage, I audibly thanked God for saving me from myself by giving me the courage and self-control to leave the scene. On the way home, I asked God for more of whatever it takes inside me to do battle with lust.
—Randy Rowland in Sins We Love
My Response: An "emergency exit" that I can identify in advance would be …
Thought to Apply: It is with our passions, as it is with fire and water. They are good servants but bad masters.
—Roger L'Estrange (English journalist and pamphleteer, 17th century)Adapted from: Sins We Love (Doubleday, 2000).2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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Prayer for the Week
Dear God, I need Your Spirit's help to resist the sexual temptations all around me.
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