Lesson: What does it mean to learn intolerance for something?

It is important to recognize your need for preparation as you begin to realize the world that you live in is trying to get you to betray your religious beliefs for what feels good and is popular. Every message that surrounds you today is trying to get you to buy something or join something or be a member of something. It’s your job to be able to recognize which things are harmful to you and which things are not. Some things will lead you into places of destruction and others will not. The difficult part is recognizing the difference.

Learning intolerance for temptation is an effort to get you to learn how to identify the areas of your life that are being bombarded by Satan’s attacks and then fight them with the power of the cross of Christ. Temptations surround you as you live your life everyday. Many people don’t even notice them because they are such a part of your society. Being unable to recognize when temptation is lurking around you is a dangerous position to be in. If you can’t see it when it’s close, how do expect to fight it when it attacks? Being intolerant of something, especially temptation, means that you not only recognize when it’s around, you can’t stand it. For example, I am intolerant of bad music. When I hear a song on the radio or a CD that has off-key singing or bad harmonies, I turn it off because my ears can’t stand to listen to it. The same principle should be at work in our spiritual lives as we battle Satan’s temptations.

When you walk through the halls at school or when you’re watching television at home and you see or hear something that is inconsistent with the message of Christ—cussing, sex, nudity, horrible acts of violence—you shouldn’t just be able to tune it out and not notice it. It should send off warning signs in your mind that you are being influenced by something that could lead you into sin, which is called temptation. The key passage for this series is from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which ends with Paul urging the Corinthian church to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Your goal as a Christian is to take each and every thought that goes through your mind and submit it to Christ. As you do this, you should notice that the things of this world stand out more because they aren’t a part of your thought process, only Christ is.

When your mind has conformed to the world’s standards, the things of this world seem normal, including things that are sinful in God’s eyes. As you being to see with the eyes of Christ, the fun and excitement that seems to be going on all around you is seen for what it really is: discontentment, sinfulness, idolatry, greed, lust, and lacking fulfillment. Becoming intolerant of sin means you can recognize it, first, and then know how to avoid giving in to it. Without being able to do both of these things, you’ll only win half the battle, which means you end up losing in the end. Knowing how to identify temptations without knowing how to escape them is just as meaningless and knowing how to escape them without knowing how to see them coming. These lessons are designed to help you learn and develop a complete intolerance for temptation.

PRINTABLE VERSION: LESSON 1