Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks…. The longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.
–Thomas à Kempis
This is a principle we all have experienced before – that when we continue to contemplate the thing that is tempting us, it is more likely for us to lose the battle and step into sin. Flirting with temptation is dangerous. The flirt often ends up with us in an improper embrace. That is why God tells us to flee from temptation and to “resist the devil.” The very first moment temptation shows up, we need to get out of there. “Run, Forest, Run.”
So, when the enemy comes knocking at the door with some appealing temptation, instead of arguing with him (or with yourself) about it, shut him out and never let him in the door with his arguments. He is much better at sales than the best door-to-door vacuum cleaner or encyclopedia salesman ever was. When we start giving arguments as to why we can keep flirting with the temptation instead of slamming the door and high-tailing it to some other place (whether that be physical, mental, or both), we find our resistance gets weaker and weaker while our urge to give in to the temptation gets stronger and stronger.
Today, make a choice before your particular temptation ever shows up at your door, that when it arrives, you will slam the door and flee from temptation. Make a determined choice that your days of flirting with temptation are over starting this very moment.