Situational Training
Scott Knight
I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin? (Job 31:1)
As we wrap up our discussion of attacks against our conscience, I want to give you some practical tips to help you train your eyes to not look at a woman lustfully. While I realize there are countless things we look at with our physical eyes and lust after, most of us share the common temptation of sexual lust and so I am going to use that in this exercise.
Training For the Bad Situations
When I first started training at Team Quest, the thing that struck me most was how often Matt Lindland and Randy Couture would put us in bad situations and start our live sparring from there. For example, one person would get in tight on a single leg and then the whistle would blow. That person would fight to finish the takedown while the other person would fight to get out of that position without being taken down.
I am not as good from the bottom as I am from the top and so, in practice, when we are given the option of starting from either position, I will always choose bottom. This forces me to work on an area of weakness with the goal of improving, and it works! Now, when I get taken down and put on my back, I am much more difficult to keep down than I was six months ago. You have to put yourself in bad situations in practice so that when you are fighting live it will not be the first time you were there.
Get a Training Partner
When it comes to training your eyes, here’s the drill. First, you have to have one other guy that you are totally honest with about your thoughts in this area. This is your training partner. Now over time as you hang out, drink coffee, watch football, eat lunch, or whatever else you do together, have him watch your eyes. Then when he confronts you on specific things your eyes lingered on, be totally honest about your thoughts. You see, you are in situational training all the time in this world.
Everywhere you go there are visual temptations, and you will be surprised how often you “notice” them once someone starts to point it out to you. But if you will commit yourself to this for three weeks, you will be shocked at the difference it makes in your thought life. If you’re married, discipline yourself to think of your wife naked every time you struggle in this area. And by all means, stare at her! You will most likely get plenty of positive reinforcement when your wife realizes you are staring at her often. It may even lead to some physical activity to complement this mental exercise.
Once your thoughts and energies are freed up from battling where the enemy wants you, you will be freed up to go on offense. And it is always more fun, and less painful, to be on offense in a fight.
