Walking on dry ground

Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. (James 1:13-15)

Woodrow Wilson reminded us, "The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it." That might aptly describe how it is when we are tempted - swimming AGAINST the stream, trying to live a righteous life, but pulled ever so hard by the strength of the 'evil current' that works against us. I have been pulled or tugged in one direction or another all of my life. At times, I am tempted to say that God is working AGAINST me, but I know that is NEVER true. At others, I am fully aware that my own silly desires (lusts) get in the way of making right choices. Temptation is real, my friends, but we don't ever want to think it is God at work in our lives, putting all manner of tempting stuff or thoughts in our path.

The sad truth is that we don't need to be lured into 'evil actions' sometimes. They come quite naturally to us. The hardest thing for us to do is admit those tempting desires (lusts) come from within our own minds. I think too many times we want to blame another for our own silly desires that get us into all manner of trouble. Whenever we shift the blame to another (including God himself), we are refusing to see that there is really an 'evil bent' to our own desires - intent on pleasing ourselves. As a believer in Christ, those desires are not going to just magically go away, but Christ is helping us to see them clearly and then to understand how to overcome the 'strength' of their 'current' within our lives.

Learning to recognize when an 'evil intent' is lurking within is sometimes one of the most difficult things to do, but when we grasp the truth God sets out in his Word, we can be free of the pull toward sin. The type of 'truth' we may need to hear could be that our words have the potential to build up or tear down. Maybe we need to embrace the truth that money isn't supposed to be our primary goal in holding down a job - doing our work as unto the Lord makes us excellent employees and the 'natural outcome' of that type of service is 'reward'. It may be monetary, but it could also be a sense of having done a job well and with all the talent God has given us put to use. Truth understood will set us free. How? When 'evil intent' is the current pulling us, we learn to get out of the water and walk on dry ground! Just sayin!

Not one more cookie!

The resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible. (Thomas Hardy) Ponder Hardy's thoughts for just a moment and you will understand why willpower alone seldom keeps us from eating the candy bar within our fridge! Now, the one still at the grocer's counter is a little harder to actually enjoy, is it not? The nearer the 'evil', the harder it is to avoid - it is within our path and we find things harder to resist when they are in our path!

So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

My BFF was sharing about her father's desire to lose a little weight, so he has 'divested' himself of some of the goodies he had 'stockpiled' in the house. The box of chocolates found a new home far away. The rice krispy treats made someone else very happy. The cookies blessed another's family. I imagine the purpose of the 'divestiture' is to ensure the temptation for the 'evil' of those sweets is further away than the cupboard! As long as they remained, there was difficulty avoiding them. When they were gone, there could still exist a 'yearning', but the ability to satisfy the yearning was much harder.

Sometimes the hardest thing for us to remember is that temptation is not all that powerful when we remove the thing from our midst! If it becomes harder and harder for us to ever 'acquire' whatever it is we are tempted with, it is less likely we will 'give into' that temptation. If our 'temptation' is able to be fulfilled by what we eat, we stop bringing that object into our home. If our 'temptation' is acquired and fed through what we view on the TV, then we disconnect from the cable company's feed. If it is indulged through the associations we keep, we begin to change those associations.

The opposite of evil is good - most would agree. Today, many have framed evil in such a way as to believe there are 'degrees of evil' - some not so bad and others at the opposite end of the spectrum. The problem with this reasoning is that what we 'tolerate' as a 'less offensive' evil today will become the norm tomorrow. The evil we once avoided becomes a 'tolerable' or even 'acceptable' evil. It has been brought close enough to begin to tempt us to accept it and believe it is 'okay'. This is shaky ground, my friends, for evil of all types is to be resisted (avoided at all cost).

To resist - give yourselves to God in humility - admitting freely the pull toward the temptation that we feel. God isn't caught off-guard by our admittance of the 'pull'. In fact, he knows temptation exists and he has provided a pathway of escape, but we have to seek his assist to walk that path! Just sayin!

Envy this!

I have caught a couple of shows recently where the point of the show is to showcase the tremendously awesome pools people build in their backyards or the tricked out recreational vehicles they take on their vacations.  The pools feature water slides, natural water features such as waterfalls, and even some "lazy rivers" for just drifting along on a raft or inner tube.  The RVs have granit counter tops, full-sized showers, and more flat screen TVs than you can shake a stick at!  These shows have appeal because of the "envy-factor" they create.  Isn't it part of human nature to hope to live the life everyone else looks at and says, "Wow!  I wish I lived like that?"  I have to admit, I am amazed at the neat things which are created - until I hear the price!  Some of these folks spend over a million dollars just for a backyard pool!  Now, don't get me wrong, but is this really something we want to be defined by?

Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.  But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.  (Psalm 1:1-2 AMP)

Our psalmist opens the entire Book of Psalms with these two verses - the real thing which makes a man "enviable" is the thing which is on the inside - not in the backyard or the garage!  I remember some of the most amazing times of my life when I was a kid in a camper on the back of my Dad's pickup!  We had a small cook stove, a tank of water, a table which doubled as a bed for me, and a porta-potty which required emptying each day!  Nothing "luxurious" about it!  Yet, it took us to places where tide-pools gathered creatures from the sea, providing hours of exploration and many good times.  It traversed the mountain tops, taking us to the gentle flowing rivers teaming with fish caught in human hands by forming human dams.  Probably no one would have "envied" our simple "home away from home" these days, but I can look back at the memories formed in those simple trips and it brings both a smile to my face and a warmth to my soul.

Our psalmist points out a couple of things to be "envied" in a believer's life:

* He knows which counsel is worth listening to.  The counsel of the ungodly may "seem" good for now, but it won't stand the tests of time.  I wonder just how many of these folks who buy these tricked out RVs or gargantuan pools find themselves face-to-face with the monthly payments somewhere down the road and wonder why they signed on the bottom line?  The appeal of the counsel of the ungodly comes in the "upfront" promises which are not backed with the "security" of divine provision and power.  David reminds us of the fortunate place we stand in when we don't embrace the advice which "seems good", but test it a little to see if it is really backed by something more than man's ego!

* He understands the importance of seeking rest in the right places.  I have tried sleeping on airplanes, but I rarely gather more than a few catnaps which leave me feeling more tired than I was before I dozed.  It isn't because I don't trust the pilot or am afraid to miss out on the pretzels passed during snack time.  I just don't rest well in a sitting position, surrounded by people I don't know, unable to extend my legs!  It is not conducive to rest!  To be able to rest, I need to be in the right place - such as in the comfort of a reclining chair, fully extended, listening to the breezes gently blowing through the trees.  The difference between the two is in the degree of rest I will receive in my "resting".  Where I choose to find my rest is as important as taking time to rest!  

* He appreciates the dangers of inactivity.  Most are amazed at how my mind works - it is almost continual.  As my mind is working, I am able to process a whole lot of stuff.  I do crosswords in my down-time, as well as play computer games which challenge me to think ahead.  I like the games where I have to build an entire town, not knowing which challenges will be put before me like tornado, hurricane, or earthquake.  The better my preparation for these challenges, the better my city fairs in the time of the storm.  The time of "inactivity" in the game is not really a time for nothing to happen - it is a time of preparation.  Inactivity actually is a dangerous place to find ourselves because it is a place of submission - we submit to whatever captures our attention in the moment.  I regularly take in the Word of God each morning because it is my focal-point for the day.  It starts the activity in my life.  There are times when we need "down-time", when the activity ceases and we "re-center", so to speak.  Yet, it is never a time of just opening up to whatever comes our way - it is planned, prepared time!

* He forms good habits.  We teach our kids to brush their teeth so they won't get cavities, will always have teeth to chew their food with, and so their smile can warm the hearts of those around them.  We train employees how to apply various safety practices in the work environment through fire drills, safety fairs, and lessons in applying personal protective equipment such as back braces and hard hats.  We emphasize the importance of washing our hands before we eat because we know the many germs which have been acquired in all we touched throughout our day.  I wonder why we struggle so much with the "habits" God asks us to develop?  If he is like a father to us, isn't he just doing what any good dad does for his children - helping us develop the habits which will keep us safe!  He gives us the precepts (rules of action or conduct) which will keep us out of harm's way - but hearing is not acting.  He wants us to develop the habit of taking them in regularly until they affect the way we act!

Just some thoughts on what makes a man or woman truly "enviable".  It isn't in the "much" we amass, it is in the "greatness" we allow to be developed by the choices we make in the moments that matter.  Just sayin!

Wanting for nothing

Have you heard the term "keeping up with the Joneses"?  In a simple sense, it is the tendency we have to compare ourselves to another, then come to the conclusion the stuff the other guy has is something we ought to have, as well.  In other words, we "benchmark" ourselves against the social, financial, or physical status of another.  If we don't possess what the other guy does, we often come to the conclusion we are somehow inferior to them.  Today's "rule" for living addresses such a tendency.


¹⁷ “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17 New Living Translation)


I like the way The Message translation puts it:  ¹⁷ No lusting after your neighbor's house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your heart on anything that is your neighbor's.  How many times have we been guilty of "setting our hearts" on what the other guy has or has achieved?


Here's the downfall of keeping up with the Joneses - we find ourselves becoming "consumers" of things, people, position, etc.  When we just consume, we are never satisfied with what it is we have.  This is the danger set out for us in this rule.  We all have the natural tendency to "compare" - another term for this tendency is to benchmark ourselves against another.  We do it almost without noticing.  Since this is such a "natural" thing for us, we would do well to begin to evaluate just how much this has been affecting our choices.


Did you know social status once depended upon your family name?  In times past, the name said it all.  Do you realize you have been given a new name in Christ?  Your name now says it all!  You really don't have to work to achieve status - you already have it!


Today, social status is often defined by consumerism - the material stuff we can accumulate.  The danger with this definition of status comes in the insatiable need for more.  Things wear out, newer technology comes along, sleeker automobiles drift onto the market, and trendier clothes hit the racks everyday.  My head is set whirling just trying to keep up with the names of the new automobiles out on the market today!  Heaven knows my wardrobe is far from trendy!


The underlying attitude of heart God is after in this rule is one of contentment.  We are given such status by our position in Christ - not the showy kind of status - but the lasting and permanent kind.  In Christ, we have all needs met, all fears conquered.  We stand as victors.  What good does comparing ourselves to another really amount to anyway?  In fact, it does just the opposite - it sets us up for giving into the lustful attitude of heart, the wishful thinking of the mind, and the insatiable drive of the eyes.


We will do well to examine our "benchmark" in life.  If it is not Christ above all else, we perhaps have drifted into a little of the "keeping up with the Joneses" philosophy of our culture.  We need to "re-center" our focus in order to "filter" our wants from our needs.  No social status is worth compromising our position in Christ.  Nor is it worth compromising our family life, our relationships, or our integrity.  This commandment really is for our protection, not for limiting us.  It is a reminder to "re-center" whenever our eye is on something other than Christ - we should "want for nothing" when we realize our "status" in him!