Even though Joseph did the right thing he ended up in prison. According to Psalm 105:18, he suffered greatly during his incarceration. Alone in jail, Joseph continued to cling to the promises of God with a pure conscience and his integrity intact. Let me offer a few final thoughts about how we can handle temptation.
1. Establish clear boundaries for your life.
One of the reasons we find ourselves in compromising situations is that we don’t have clearly defined limits and safe guards in place. You can’t protect yourself from temptation 100% of the time, but you can drastically reduce the severity of temptation by setting boundaries and sticking to them.
2. Don’t be easy on your passions.
Be a student of yourself and above all be honest with yourself about the cracks and fault lines in your life. If you are a student of yourself and can appropriately identify the weak spots, you can work on those areas and shore them up. Unfortunately we live in a culture that values image projection over character development. Working on your character is a daily discipline you can ill afford to neglect. I Corinthians 10:12 says, “Therefore, whoever thinks he stands needs to be careful not to fall!”
3. Fill your life with the righteousness of God.
In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus taught that the mustard seed grows into a tree where the birds come and make nests in the branches. The point of the parable is not that little things get big. The point is that the Kingdom of God overtakes and crowds all other competing affections. When you fill your life with God, God will begin to crowd all of the competing desires and affections out so that their allure is drastically diminished.
If you will establish clear boundaries for your life, become real about your passions, and fill your life with the righteousness of God, you’ll find that you’ve taken some giant steps in your battle against temptation.
