In 2 Timothy 2:22, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to flee youthful lusts and follow after righetousness, faith, charity, peace, and a pure heart. By following after the pathways of righetousness, faith, charity, and a pure heart, we draw closer to the love of God and draw further away from the lusts that try to entangle us. Sometimes, in order to flee from the youthful lusts, we literally have to flee and run away from the sin that wants to consume us. This is exactly what Joseph did in Genesis 39 when a married woman attempted to pressure Joseph to have sex with her. Joseph literally ran from the woman. Sometimes, you have to run away to keep from sinning. God does not expect us to get up on the high and holy pedestal and preach the word every time the opportunity for sin occurs. Running away from the sin does not make you a chicken because you did not stand pioused and holy in the name of Jesus. In fact, running away from sin really shows the true motives of the heart of one who really does not wish to continue sinning. This shows the man or woman who desires to develop and maintain a pure and holy temple for the Holy Spirit to live within.

Some people have to stay away from certain things to keep from sinning. Good for them. I would rather stay away from a questionable area in order to remain holy rather than play with fire and get burned later. I realize that we can not necessarily avoid all temptations because the scriptures tell us that all are tempted. In the next part of this series entitled Temptation To Temple, I will go further into the areas of temptation and focus on how we can avoid making a temptation into a transgression.

In order to have true victory over the transgressions we commit, we must follow a commandment Jesus talked about called forgiveness. In Matthew 6:14-15, the scriptures state that in order to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father, we must learn to forgive others who have tresspassed against us. The same Scriptures tell us that if we do not forgive those who have committed tresspasses against us, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. Therefore, forgiveness is a two-way street where we must put a Biblical commandment in action in order to receive a Biblical blessing. The act of forgiveness can open up the windows of heaven to us or close up the windows of heaven if we refuse to forgive people. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God due to Adam's tresspass (Romans 5:17). Therefore, tresspass and transgression is something all of us face and commit in our lives. It does not matter how many or how severe the tresspass is, if one does not allow God to clkease them of their tresspasses, then one can not experience the true life of a holy temple and ends us more and more bound up in the state of totem.

In summary, whether you choose to participate in, or not to participate in a tresspass / transgression is a personal choice made by everybody. For those who choose to tresspass / transgress, the pathway to totem becomes easier and easier to follow as the pathway becomes wider and wider. For those who choose not to tresspass / transgress, the pathway to holiness and to a pure and holy temple becomes narrower and narrower but more blessed and rewarding. This point is the most important part of life, here is where you choose the pathway to sin or the pathway to righetousness.

Lord, right now in the name of Jesus, I ask that you would give us the strength to become more like you. I ask that your holy presence would just encapsulate us and protect us from the evil one. Help us make good choices that will lead us towards the narrow pathway of righetousness instead of the wide road to destruction. Help us to understand the consequences, liabilities, and responsibilities of our actions whether they would be right or wrong. All of these things I ask, in Jesus name I pray, AMEN!