TRANSCRIPT:
Hey gentlemen, Jeff here, and my insight for the week is this: Habits that we have acquired slowly and over a long period of time can be quickly lost if we abandon them. I thought about this when I was giving a talk to some fellow men about the problem of sexual temptation and lust and dealing with pornography and sexual sins. And one of the things that I told the men that I think is critical when dealing with this kind of temptation is just to flee from it immediately. As soon as that thought comes into your mind, as soon as that temptation, that illicit desire, pops up- as soon as you recognize it, that very instant- you have to flee from it.
And we have the example of the saints who have run outside and thrown themselves into the snow or the saints who ran and threw themselves into a great big bush of thorns as a way of combating the sins of the flesh. But after I gave this talk and I was reflecting on some of those principles, it occurred to me that we need to have the same kind of revulsion and the same kind of instant rejection of any temptation, whether it’s pride or laziness or a lack of charity or intemperance towards food or drink or greed (and greed doesn’t mean that we’re a billionaire trying to acquire more greed, it could be just the desire for anything that’s really not necessary for our state), or it can be jealousy or envy or anger.
So, whatever our prominent faults are, whatever those vices are that we struggle with, we really need to develop this instant revulsion so that as soon as we see that gossip pop up or we’re talking about someone and we don’t need to be- and the person we’re talking to has no legitimate need for that information- as soon as that happens, you need to flee from that. And so this is something I’ve been thinking about and trying to develop this sensitivity to it in my own life- this immediate revulsion for our vices.
I hope that sharing this with you has been helpful in some way, and I hope you have a great day.