temptation from our earlier lives

[lifelong_sinner]

Hello all, been a while for me posting on here. I came across a question about temptation i thought i'd ask around here to see if you agree or disagree with something. Theres a story of a young lady who was born and raised in Russia. Well, she came over to America and lived. And she got saved. A couple of years go by, and she thought she'd go back to Russia to see friends and family. She was warned that maybe that wasnt such a good idea, but she said no, i'll be ok. So she went over there, and sure enough, her friends noticed she had changed. She noticed them as a reminder of who she used to be. she felt sad about who she used to be. well, after a couple of weeks, she had noticed she had started back sliding. this made her sad yet again. She left Russia, came back to the US, and tried to figure out what went wrong. She eventually thought that you cant evangelize to those who are temptation to you. i found this to be a very interesting realization. something similar has happened to me before. and it got me to wondering, is she right? can we evangelize and be around people from our past, and not fall back into our old ways?

 

[Ben Zartman]

Yes we can. God is mighty to save and to sanctify.
It may be difficult, but it's not impossible.

 

[John The Baptist]

It’s possible. There is a greater danger because of the former closeness of the relationships, but three things come to mind to help in this:

1. Bring a Christian brother or sister along and tell them of the past sin and how you’re worried about the temptation now. I find that even the presence of another Christian gives great strength. Maybe even focus on it as an opportunity to proclaim the gospel before your former friends/associates.

2. Meet them on a level playing field. Don’t go to the places you used to sin as you formally did. When I meet with my friends, it’s usually public and it’s usually getting food. That practically limits anything from going wrong.

3. Be honest about your own level of maturity. I have been arrogant in thinking I was more mature than I was. Boy did that come back to haunt me.

Obviously, this can be difficult in your friend’s situation, going back to another country and all, but these are practical things which aid in staying away from one’s former life while also being able to share the gospel with them.