Week #13 Singleness and Ministry

Thursday 04-16-09
By Nick Smith

I choose the article from http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/protect.htm to make my list of 5 items. The items that I choose to put on my list were basically 5 ways I could see myself being most susceptible or ways in which I thought I could really capitalize.

1. I really enjoy the close relationships that I have with people (guys and girls alike). As I go into my profession I will need to watch out when getting to know new women. I need to avoid getting too attached emotionally, because I believe this is an area in which I could fail. I think for me personally it would be easy to just try to be close friends and then that moves to an unhealthy relationship where I would be fulfilling her emotional needs.
2. I need to listen to the advice of my wife. Though sometimes I think that she could be saying things out of an underlying jealousy, most of the time she is probably right. And, even if she is saying it out of jealousy, no relationship is going to be more important than my relationship with her, so following what she thinks is best is always going to be a good thing.
3. I also need to learn how to get a hold of my thought life. This is something that I think will come with age, but really getting serious about it now will be key. I feel like I have gotten better in this area over the last 4 years, but I am not where I would like to be.
4. Sinners always get caught. Well, I don’t know if that is always true. But, I do believe it is a good rule to live by. Maybe I don’t have enough years in me to really know if I have been caught of all my sin, so living like I always will get caught is a good reason to not get involved in sexual sin.
5. Don’t spend time alone with the opposite sex. This is going to be key. Not because I am always susceptible in this situation, but the questions that can arise from others knowing I was in that situation could be dangerous.