There's a series dealing with temptation I've been following. And the more I hear, the more I realize I am infinitely weak in the places where I pay the least attention. No news means no new news, so I just keep doing what I've been doing. It must be working if I've made it this far, and besides, it's not really a sin if you can justify it, right?
Except that I don't buy that.
There are truths that are true whether I want them to be true or not. And there are sins that are sins whether I think they are or not.
Why? The quickest and most humbling answer is: Because I'm not God.
Oscar Wilde glibly stated once, "I can resist anything, except temptation." But temptation's really the only thing worth the effort to resist; partly because it's so personal, and partly because anything that difficult to resist has to have a reason for it to be so difficult in the first place.
And I'm just stubborn enough to resist because it is difficult. It's one of the reasons I'm a Christian; like Gilbert K. Chesterton stated, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
And a big part of trying to be a follower of this Christ I read about is shedding the parts of my self that don't show Him, or worse, I try to hide from Him.
One of the points made in the series was that temptation shows our attempts to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways. For instance, Christ was tempted after 40 days of desert nothing (except heat, heat, no food, and more heat) to turn stones to bread. He was legitimately hungry; He certainly had the power to change any thing that is into something else entirely.
He'd changed water to wine. Why not change stones to bread?
The quickest and most obvious answer? God had a plan. That wasn't part of it.
It doesn't matter if the idea had been presented on day 4 or 35 or 41. If Christ had given in to His hunger on any day, He would have made a choice that was His body's, and not part of God's plan. He could have had bread, but if He did, there'd be no Calvary.
No third day. No hope eternal.
There would just be undeniable, unrelenting, irresistable temptation.
Because temptation is never solely about what's being offered. It's always more about what's being denied and the cost.
I wrestle almost daily with an addiction I walked away from 3 years ago. There was no support group, and I still shy away from talking about that time in my life.
It's a sore spot, because it's still a temptation.
Comparing what I've gone through and what I do to keep myself from falling back into the skin of that person I used to be, I've noticed I keep stumbling over step 3 in the 12 Steps.
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
Truth? I. Don't. Want. To.
As different as life is now, as much healthier I am, and as much I know, I know this is a better life, I still don't want to acknowledge that I have to be dependent on Someone Else.
I don't want to turn my will and my life over when I have the power and the ability and can turn my own darn stones, thank you.
But temptation, trying to fulfill a legitimate need in an illegitimate way, took me a dark place of aloneness, pain, and fear, so I am forced to admit that I don't consistently make the best choices for my self.
Which leaves the option of salvation, fulfilling a legitimate need in a legitimate way; and of falling forward into the Hands that don't justify my sin.
But that love me - undeniably, unrelenting, irresistibly.
Except that I don't buy that.
There are truths that are true whether I want them to be true or not. And there are sins that are sins whether I think they are or not.
Why? The quickest and most humbling answer is: Because I'm not God.
Oscar Wilde glibly stated once, "I can resist anything, except temptation." But temptation's really the only thing worth the effort to resist; partly because it's so personal, and partly because anything that difficult to resist has to have a reason for it to be so difficult in the first place.
And I'm just stubborn enough to resist because it is difficult. It's one of the reasons I'm a Christian; like Gilbert K. Chesterton stated, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
And a big part of trying to be a follower of this Christ I read about is shedding the parts of my self that don't show Him, or worse, I try to hide from Him.
One of the points made in the series was that temptation shows our attempts to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways. For instance, Christ was tempted after 40 days of desert nothing (except heat, heat, no food, and more heat) to turn stones to bread. He was legitimately hungry; He certainly had the power to change any thing that is into something else entirely.
He'd changed water to wine. Why not change stones to bread?
The quickest and most obvious answer? God had a plan. That wasn't part of it.
It doesn't matter if the idea had been presented on day 4 or 35 or 41. If Christ had given in to His hunger on any day, He would have made a choice that was His body's, and not part of God's plan. He could have had bread, but if He did, there'd be no Calvary.
No third day. No hope eternal.
There would just be undeniable, unrelenting, irresistable temptation.
Because temptation is never solely about what's being offered. It's always more about what's being denied and the cost.
I wrestle almost daily with an addiction I walked away from 3 years ago. There was no support group, and I still shy away from talking about that time in my life.
It's a sore spot, because it's still a temptation.
Comparing what I've gone through and what I do to keep myself from falling back into the skin of that person I used to be, I've noticed I keep stumbling over step 3 in the 12 Steps.
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
Truth? I. Don't. Want. To.
As different as life is now, as much healthier I am, and as much I know, I know this is a better life, I still don't want to acknowledge that I have to be dependent on Someone Else.
I don't want to turn my will and my life over when I have the power and the ability and can turn my own darn stones, thank you.
But temptation, trying to fulfill a legitimate need in an illegitimate way, took me a dark place of aloneness, pain, and fear, so I am forced to admit that I don't consistently make the best choices for my self.
Which leaves the option of salvation, fulfilling a legitimate need in a legitimate way; and of falling forward into the Hands that don't justify my sin.
But that love me - undeniably, unrelenting, irresistibly.
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