The best way to resist sexual temptation is to flee from it. Temptation itself is not sin; it becomes sin when it is allowed to grow into desire. Men are visually stimulated, so when a man looks, he is engaged in a physical and spiritual temptation. Living in a sexually over-stimulated culture drains many men of the spiritual and moral energy needed to expose and resist temptation. Women, when they have a mind to resist, flee temptation, but men tend to crawl away slowly, as if hoping the temptation will overtake them. No man sets out to succumb, yet unless he stays perpetually vigilant, his own evil desires carry him from temptation into desire and then into sin. Scott's story shows the cost of refusing to flee. A pastor who excused his Internet pornography use with "I deserve it" ended up in addiction, a double life, and a ruined marriage and ministry. Changing jobs did not help, because sins cannot be outrun when the heart is unchanged. The same principle applies to anything that pulls a man away from his wife and children, such as email, games, or television. Fleeing is grounded in 1 John 2:12-17: believers must not love the world, with its lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life, because it is passing away. It is God's will that His people overcome temptation and sin.

Character is what a person does in the dark, doing right whether or not anyone sees, and it is proven under temptation. Joseph shows this. As a slave in Potiphar's house, he faced the sustained advances of his master's wife, who spoke to him day after day. He refused her, reasoning that his master had withheld nothing from him except his wife, and that adultery would be a great crime and a sin against God. When she grew bolder and caught him by the robe while the house was empty, he did not stand and argue but ran off, leaving the robe in her hands. Fleeing was the final act of a resistance that had already held firm through weeks or perhaps months of pressure, surely sustained by prayer, meditation and fasting. Obedience cost him dearly, for he was thrown into prison on false charges, yet God kept blessing him and he ultimately ruled Egypt. Joseph could flee because he had built strength through a long series of earlier right decisions, for character does not just happen. Paul's counsel in Romans 13:12-14 is the same: drop the deeds of darkness, put on the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, and never plan how to gratify the cravings of the flesh.

Sin is like fire taken into the bosom: a person cannot play with it and escape being burned, and the flames are invisible until it is too late. Paul's command in I Corinthians 6:18 to flee sexual immorality is the soundest advice, because the farther away from temptation one is, the safer one is. A soldier pulled back from a red-light district first resisted his friends but then thanked them once he was farther from the temptation. Fleeing is a personal responsibility. In Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus explains that sin begins in the mind and that adultery is committed in the heart through lust. His words about plucking out the eye and cutting off the hand mean not literal mutilation but removing whatever feeds sin. Lewd video content must go, and a person struggling with alcohol should keep it out of the home and avoid places that sell it and those who drink. Someone tempted by credit should cut up the cards and keep a budget, and a smoker should keep tobacco out of the home and away from places where it is easily available. Whatever drags a person into sin must be put as far away as possible. Fleeing also has a spiritual step. According to James 4:6-10, one must submit to God, resist the Devil so that he flees, draw near to God, and humbly repent. Time is short, so the work of putting sin out of one's life is urgent. Seeing the danger is not enough; action is required, and God will do His part to quench the fire as a person does his.