Let Me Stand Like Joseph: Sexual Temptation and The Would-Be Godly Man

By Henry Styron

Christian men, both married and single, struggle to live lives of purity and Godliness. Using the example of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, other Biblical material, and relevant principles from spiritual counseling, leavened with humor, this book gives practical guidance to men to help them to develop a character of sexual wholeness and integrity. The book’s goal may be summed up by the following quote from it: “The secret to standing like Joseph is to develop such a character that, when the moment of crisis comes, you’ll be unable to do anything else.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Henry Styron
• Release date: May 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476036014

Henry Styron

Henry Styron is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, and a former carpenter, parking valet, nightwatchman, and supermarket bagger. A husband, father, amateur actor, aspiring philosopher and would-be godly man, he was born and currently lives in North Carolina. He writes because he enjoys it, and thanks you for reading.

Book preview

Let Me Stand Like Joseph:

Sexual Temptation and the Would-Be Godly Man

by Henry Styron

Copyright 2011 Henry Styron

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Let Me Stand Like Joseph:

Sexual Temptation and the Would-Be Godly Man

Introduction

Chapter 1----------A World of Delights

Chapter 2----------Opportunity Knocks

Chapter 3----------On Boundaries

Chapter 4----------Sin Against God

Chapter 5----------Keeping Your Distance

Chapter 6----------Letting Down Your Guard

Chapter 7----------When It’s Time to Run

Chapter 8----------Hard Times Ahead

Chapter 9----------Living With A Sex Drive

Chapter 10----------Taking the Long View

Chapter 11----------What If You’ve Fallen?

Afterword

Introduction

I’m a little surprised that I’ve had the nerve to write this and stick with it all the way through a whole book. Sexual temptation is a very sensitive subject, and, while I really haven’t included all that much in the way of personal testimony, I’ve still felt a little hesitant on occasion about what I have put in. Not to mention, you know, what if one of my kids reads this? Papa’s talking about SEX!

And yet, I think this book is needed. There are a lot of other very valuable books on the subject, but the problem is big. I’m a minister, and I read a lot of clergy health and ethics material. Depending on which study you’re looking at, more than 10 percent of pastors have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct within their churches. That may not seem like a lot, but when you consider the devastating consequences to the individual, the church, the minister’s family, and the minister himself, 10 percent is huge. And then you have to figure that the actual number is probably higher than the reported number, and you’ve got a bigger problem yet. And that’s just the pastors. I have reason to believe that Christian laymen struggle with the same issues as the clergy.

And it doesn’t stop there. Our Lord said that if anyone so much as looks at a woman with inappropriate desire, he has already (I’m going to be straightforward here) had illicit sex with her in his heart (Matthew 5:8). And in I Corinthians 10:13, Paul tells us that no temptation has come before us except that which is common to everyone. So the thought life problem has got to be many times larger than the behavior problem, and I’m going to guess that sexual temptation is nothing new to the majority of you reading this.

First bit of personal testimony—I have never to my knowledge engaged in any sort of inappropriate sexual conduct in any sort of pastor/parishioner relationship. Second bit of personal testimony—I have been tempted on more than one occasion and have had opportunity on more than one occasion to engage in such conduct, but temptation in and of itself is not sin. Third bit of personal testimony, and I’m not proud of this, but here it is—I have, on more than one occasion, been guilty of inappropriate desire and impure thoughts regarding women who were not my wife. Fourth bit of personal testimony, as if number three wasn’t bad enough—the thought of doing something stupid and falling into overt sexual sin terrifies me.

Now, if I were the only one struggling with this, so be it, and I’d just struggle. But there’s that whole common to all men thing. I like the bumper sticker that says Christians aren’t perfect. Just forgiven. We’re all sinners saved by grace, fighting with our sin nature, Lord willing mostly victorious over it, but we won’t be delivered from it this side of heaven. Find me one reasonably healthy man who’s never experienced the temptation to inappropriate sexual thought, and I will eat this book. Find me a man other than Jesus Himself who has managed to keep his thought life pure and holy and has never crossed the line mentally, and I will personally buy him and you a steak dinner, because I want to hear how he’s done it.

It’s a common problem, maybe even a universal problem, with potentially devastating consequences. God gave us a powerful sex drive, to be enjoyed within the marriage relationship as something amazing, wonderful, and strengthening. Used in any other way, it can damage or destroy individuals, relationships, and institutions. I don’t need to tell you that the consequences of sexual appetite run amok are all around us. We ought to be frightened of the possibility of falling into sexual sin ourselves.

I need to give the disclaimer here that this book is intended for mature readers, both in content and presentation. The vast majority of it is family friendly, and I’ve tried to make the whole work as innocuous as possible, but there are a few passages where I’ve found it necessary to use plain language. Please use your own discretion.

In this book, I want to look at the patriarch Joseph and his experiences in Egypt. I want us to explore together his sources of strength, his ethics, and his boundaries. I want to find out how he was able to maintain his own purity even in the face of tremendous temptation, and I want to see how God provided for him and rewarded his obedience.

We know that God doesn’t put boundaries on our freedom because He wants to spoil our fun. He gives us boundaries because He wants what’s best for us, and we’re foolish when we turn our back on God’s best in favor of the feeble attempts at pleasure we come up with. God made us as sexual beings. Let’s covenant together to seek His will for us in our sexual identity.

O Lord, may we live our lives in such a way as to reflect glory on You and give