Five Moral Fences: What one pastor does to protect himself from himself.

FACT: Some kids like to play "near the edge," and some kids don't. I always did! Whether the "edge" was rock jumping into a cool mountain lake or "bumper jumping" moving cars to slide along an icy winter street, the potential of peril invigorated me.

But "when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Cor. 13:11). I was a pastor and in seminary when the moral failures of the late '80's hit the news. In addition to the big names, I heard a shocking number of similar tragedies from my own circle of pastor/friends.

One Sunday night in 1987 I remember crying all the way to church. I was terrified. I asked over and over, "How does this happen? Could this happen to me? How can I protect myself, my family, and my ministry from the devastation a moral failure would cause? How can I keep myself pure when men better than me are falling like flies?"

Sexual temptation is

where we are held least

accountable and where

we can fall fastest.

Five Moral Fences -

1. I will not, under any circumstances, ride alone in a car with a female other than my wife or an immediate family member.

2. I do not counsel a woman in a closed room or more than once.

3. I do not stay alone in a hotel overnight.

4. I speak often and publicly of my affection for my wife, when she's present and when she's not.

5. Compliment the character or the conduct, not the coiffure or the clothing.

Follow this link to read James MacDonald's complete article.