Over the past year, I’ve gotten more serious about running. Initially, I chose running because it was cheap way to stay fit. Hah, what a lie. Running hasn’t been cheap. But that’s a post for another time.
As my pocket book dwindled from one running purchase after another, you better believe I jumped at the chance to become a brand ambassador for Janji. Perks included a racing singlet and 35% off future purchases.
Today (October 18, 2015) is a significant milestone in my faith journey.
Fifteen years ago today, sitting at my computer in my dorm room, I gave my life to Christ and began a relationship with him. Along with that milestone, I also hit 10 years in full-time church ministry last month.
So I thought it’d be fun to reflect back and jot down a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.
The Internet is a giant, never-ending vat of visual temptation.
Pornography, celebrity sex tapes, websites dedicated to adult content/explicit images, half-naked women in ads.
It can appear quickly and from the most unexpected places.
I was listening to music from Pandora’s website once when a full-page ad of a half-dressed woman appeared as a new song started playing.
Pandora!? #nothelpful
That’s enough to get the mind traveling down the wrong path. Before you know it, you’re opening a new tab, visiting your go-to porn websites, and scouring the web for more. It’s a scenario I’ve repeated, and I know countless others have experienced as well.
So how can we combat porn and visually explicit images coming at us from every direction?
[clickToTweet tweet=”Why resist temptation tomorrow if you have the power to eliminate it today? ~@craiggroeschel” quote=”Why resist temptation tomorrow if you have the power to eliminate it today? ~@craiggroeschel”]
In this blog post, I’m going to show you two free ways I’ve eliminated visual temptation today, so that I won’t have to resist it tomorrow.
And I’ll show you step-by-step how you can use them too!
Let’s play a word association game. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say the following words/phrases.
Hipster
Netflix
Full-time ministry
My answers would be: skinny jeans, binge watching and working at a church.
Since I work at a church, people often ask me what it’s like to be in full-time ministry.
I hate this question.
It implies I’m in full-time ministry and you are not. Here’s the truth. If you’re a Christian, you are in full-time ministry.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Full-time ministry is not what your job is. It’s the attitude you go into every day with.” quote=”Full-time ministry is not what your job is. It’s the attitude you go into every day with.”]
So how about you tell me, what’s it like being in full-time ministry? What are ways we can all have that mindset each day?
I’m fascinated by the lure of just two kettlebell exercises causing a “what the hell?” effect.
The What the Hell Effect is well known throughout the kettlebell community. Doing kettlebell work, specifically kettlebell swings and turkish get-ups, has a way of improving all sorts of other physical activities that seem to be unrelated.
Premeditated Fitness
Living in the world of kettlebell swings and turkish get-ups has brought surprising clarity to a question Christians often wrestle with: How do we grow in our faith and mature in our relationship with Christ?
Conviction come’s in the weirdest ways sometimes.
