Every man faces the same decision again and again: wisdom or impulse, discipline or appetite, risk or gamble, conviction or compromise, purpose or drift, courage or cowardice, love or lust.
Wisdom is knowing the difference.
In the CMN book Communication, Sex, and Money, we teach the three basic temptations every man faces, from Adam and Eve to the present day. Eve saw that the fruit was "good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for wisdom" (Genesis 3:6).
These three basic sins are spelled out in the New Testament as: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16 KJV).
Lust is the moral opposite of love. Lust seeks to get. Love seeks to give. Lust desires to benefit self even at the expense of others. Love desires to benefit others even at the expense of self.
Love is easily satisfied. Lust is insatiable.
Gambling is lust in a respectable suit. It's an addiction that's capturing millions of men ... being used by uncaring covetous men to pay for stadiums, networks, real estate deals, and vice. It's pure lust. Lust for more. Lust for speed. Lust for the rush. Filling the hearts of men with a carnal passion that says, I can beat the system. I can win big. I can get something for nothing.
A man never falls all at once.
James tells us that each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his desires that are fleshly, not God-given. Those desires conceive. Sin is born. Sin matures. Then death comes. That's the pattern.
Small compromise. Bigger compromise. Bigger again. Bondage.
Weak men crave the rush. Strong men carry the weight.
A friend's collegiate son attended a wedding and rented a house with friends who invited people for an after-party. The son saw where it was going. He left and spent the last of his cash to stay alone in a nearby hotel.
That is what real men do. They measure every impulse against every responsibility. That's wisdom.
"If a man needs wisdom, let him ask the Lord who will give it to him without restraint" (James 1:5).
Yes, you may feel the pull, want the rush, hear the lies of hell. But we stop. Examine our hearts. Resist the devil. Submit to God. Fill our minds with the Word of God. We choose principle over passion.
You may need to call a friend. Text a brother. Act differently from those around you.
That takes courage. That's wisdom, and that's true manhood. It's a fight you can win.
