This father asks his adult children to trust him because he deeply understands his topic and knows its pitfalls. He hopes they will listen to him because the insight he is about to share came through long and painful experience.
The rest of chapter 5 is his plea that they avoid adultery. In fact, it reads like a romance novel and sounds a lot like a confession, but it is not just that!
While he is certainly addressing this one problem, if I expand "adultery" to mean all of the tempting vices of this life, this spiritual father's wisdom warns me to avoid whatever tempts me away from God, for some really specific reasons.
He shares from his own experience that giving in to temptation led him toward death; that it's sweet promise was false and ultimately bitter; that it was aimless; that it took his honor, dignity, money and health; that it alienated him in his important relationships; and that it held him back from achieving his goals.
The encouraging news is that tempting situations always allow me my choice! Amen to that, but what a struggle!
Today, I will pray about how to approach Lent in terms of prayer, fasting, and giving so that I can avoid temptations and all the problems they cause!
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