Luke 14:31-32 (NIV) Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

In Jesus’ illustration concerning counting the cost of being His disciple, He lays out an important principle. As we get ready to face the issues of life, we need to take a look at where we stand in our ability to deal with it. Wouldn’t it be great if God would say in advance, you are getting ready to have a Category 5 temptation?

Unfortunately, we don’t always get the warning that Peter got before he denied his Lord. We frequently don’t know how hard the temptation, trial, or assignment is going to be.

We can’t send out a delegation and call for terms of peace. We do, however, have God’s promise that He won’t give us something that we can’t get ready for. If we properly expose ourselves to the things God is offering in preparation, we will be ready.

Jesus is trying to get all His disciples ready for this major issue. What is our policy going to be? Do we want to be one of those who sees how close they can come to evil without sinning? Do we want to try to handle this by our own human effort and try to not look at any women or men? Or, do we want to put the whole responsibility on the people of the opposite sex?

As long as they cover up, I won’t look. As long as they don’t let me, I won’t go to bed with them. God is offering us the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to put a love and compassion for people of the opposite sex that will free us from looking, thinking about, or doing anything that would harm or destroy them.