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Reasons To Maintain Moral Purity
The following is adapted from a list developed by a minister* who would review it whenever he felt vulnerable to sexual temptation. He cited the following as reminders of the negative consequences a wrong moral choice could produce.
* Grieving the Lord who redeemed me.
* Dragging His sacred name into the mud.
* One day having to look Jesus, the Righteous Judge, in the face and give an account for my actions.
* Following in the footsteps of those whose immorality forfeited or crippled their ministries.
* Inflicting untold hurt on my best friend, my wife.
* Losing my wife's respect and trust.
* Hurting my beloved children.
* Destroying my example and credibility with my children, and nullifying both present and future efforts to teach them to obey God ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?").
* If my blindness should continue or my wife be unable to forgive, perhaps losing my wife and my children forever.
* Causing shame to my family ("Why isn't Daddy a pastor any more?").
* Losing self-respect.
* Creating a form of guilt awfully hard to shake. Even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
* Forming memories and flashbacks that could plague future intimacy with my wife.
* Wasting years of ministry training and experience for a long time, maybe permanently.
* Forfeiting the effect of years of witnessing to other family members and reinforcing their distrust for ministers. Perhaps contributing to the hardening of their hearts.
* Undermining the faithful example and hard work of other Christians in our community.
* Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the enemy of God and all that is good
* Heaping judgment and endless difficulty on the person with whom I committed adultery.
* Possibly bearing the physical consequences of such diseases as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and AIDS; perhaps infecting my wife, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death.
* Possibly causing pregnancy, with the personal and financial implications, including a lifelong reminder of my sin.
* Bringing hurt to my fellow ministers.
* Bringing hurt to my friends, especially those I've led to Christ and discipled.
* Invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.
* Randy Alcorn, "Strategies To Keep From Falling" Leadership, Winter 1988.
The following is adapted from a list developed by a minister* who would review it whenever he felt vulnerable to sexual temptation. He cited the following as reminders of the negative consequences a wrong moral choice could produce.
* Grieving the Lord who redeemed me.
* Dragging His sacred name into the mud.
* One day having to look Jesus, the Righteous Judge, in the face and give an account for my actions.
* Following in the footsteps of those whose immorality forfeited or crippled their ministries.
* Inflicting untold hurt on my best friend, my wife.
* Losing my wife's respect and trust.
* Hurting my beloved children.
* Destroying my example and credibility with my children, and nullifying both present and future efforts to teach them to obey God ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?").
* If my blindness should continue or my wife be unable to forgive, perhaps losing my wife and my children forever.
* Causing shame to my family ("Why isn't Daddy a pastor any more?").
* Losing self-respect.
* Creating a form of guilt awfully hard to shake. Even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?
* Forming memories and flashbacks that could plague future intimacy with my wife.
* Wasting years of ministry training and experience for a long time, maybe permanently.
* Forfeiting the effect of years of witnessing to other family members and reinforcing their distrust for ministers. Perhaps contributing to the hardening of their hearts.
* Undermining the faithful example and hard work of other Christians in our community.
* Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the enemy of God and all that is good
* Heaping judgment and endless difficulty on the person with whom I committed adultery.
* Possibly bearing the physical consequences of such diseases as gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and AIDS; perhaps infecting my wife, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death.
* Possibly causing pregnancy, with the personal and financial implications, including a lifelong reminder of my sin.
* Bringing hurt to my fellow ministers.
* Bringing hurt to my friends, especially those I've led to Christ and discipled.
* Invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.
* Randy Alcorn, "Strategies To Keep From Falling" Leadership, Winter 1988.
Unless Authorship Otherwise Noted, Text Copyright © 2001- 2006 Tony Cooke
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