Resisting Temptation

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (I Corinthians 10:13) 

We can all admit to being a little more than 'tempted' when we see some delicious dessert we crave, gaze upon a shiny new automobile we have been desiring or wanting to jump into the latest gossip session going on in the breakroom. We ALL are tempted - it is what we do with that temptation that matters. We can give into it, skirt our way around it without being too awfully scathed by it, or resist it entirely. I can say I have done all three! Skirted in my own efforts and barely avoided the temptation. Given in whole hog to satisfy some inner urge or desire. The 'resisting it entirely' hasn't always been my 'mode of operation' in life. How about you?

Give in and feel the guilt begin to mount. Barely escape by the skin of your teeth and you might feel a moment of victory, but you know the temptation is still lurking just barely behind you, tugging a bit on your 'will-power' to just 'give in'. Put God between you and the temptation and the matter at hand takes on a whole new appearance! The word for us today is that we CAN stand - we just need to be shown the way to endure temptation's pull without giving into its lure. Who better to show us the way to resist than the one who was tested in every way we could possibly be tested, but came out victorious each and every time?

It is not more than we can handle, but we don't 'handle it' in our own power. We need to nuzzle up close to Jesus if we are to resist jumping right in to share the latest piece of juicy gossip. He has given us the Holy Spirit to act as a sort of 'monitor' over our mouths, but we have to listen to the prompt he gives in the moment. When we start out by asking God to give us a sensitivity to the prompts of the Holy Spirit, we stand a better chance of avoiding the pull. Why? We have 'put first' the very thing we need to STAND as overcomers in the midst of compromising situations. Giving into temptation is most frequently linked directly to how well we have put Christ first in our lives. When he is in the lead - we stand. When we lead - we have no solid footing. Just sayin!

Do You Bear Resistance Marks

I was charged with the task of cutting some soap the other day - something you might think would be insanely easy. It is this rich mixture of glycerin, oils, and the like, so shouldn't it be like cutting butter? First of all, let me assure you I am not a weak person - I have a great deal of strength in these hands and arms still. I can still wrestle the pickle jar open with best of you! The soap, on the other hand, just about did me in! No matter how much 'strength' I had in these hands, arms, and even my upper body, I just couldn't cut the loaf pan sized chunk of soap into 1/2 inch pieces. Something was awry with the soap as it set up and it made it insanely hard to cut. Do you know what we did with that soap? We let go of the idea of it being 'bars' of soap, chunked it up, put it back in the heat, and poured it into smaller silicone molds that will allow it to just 'pop out' perfectly sized! Hermann Hesse once said, "Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go." Some of us hold onto things, dreams, or beliefs long past the time we should have let them go all because we don't want to appear weak. Sometimes the greatest strength is revealed in letting go!

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet. (James 4:7-10)

I don't like letting go of things that I have held dear for some time in my life - it isn't easy to just admit I need to make a clean break from them. Maybe it is because I think others will see it as a weakness to let go of whatever it is, or is it just that I am afraid to let others see me fail? There are times when pride keeps us holding onto things, ideas, beliefs, and others way beyond what is really all that good for us. We need to let go. I believe there comes a moment when we have to actually "let God work his will in us" - a time when we make a conscious choice to no longer hold onto those things. Notice I said it requires a conscious effort - if we are to let go, we actually have to make a 'mind choice' and then we have to actually put some 'effort' into the 'letting go' part. When we decided the soap bars were a crazy idea, we had to not only let go of the idea of this soap being in 'bar form', but we had to put in the effort to cut it into very small squares, melt it again, repour it into suitable molds and then go through the clean up process. 

In looking back over this event, I can recall the deep divots in the palm of my hand where I had been pressing down on the knife blade to attempt to cut through the soap. Trying to hold onto the idea of making 'cut bars' from this loaf sized chunk of soap hurt! It put pressure against me that told me it was resisting everything I was trying to do. That is how it is with stuff we need to give up, or let go of in life. The pressure it exerts in resisting us is insane, so why do we still hold onto the notion we can get something beautiful to come out of the idea, dream, belief, or relationship that has been resisting us with such force? We need to let go. To let go, we need to admit that God needs to change our 'will' toward the thing we need to let go of so badly. We need him to 'work his will' in us - to change the way we think about the matter, so we can finally make a break from it.

Some of us have already hit bottom where it comes to this 'thing' God is asking us to let go of right now. We have been toying with the idea of being free from it for some time, but we just haven't been able to make a 'final break' that results in us being free. The thing we fail to recognize is that this 'break up' with that idea, dream, or thing isn't really all our doing - God needs to help us let go. As we get down on our knees before God, we are allowing God to intervene right where intervention is needed. Whenever we assume the posture of 'letting go', God assumes the posture of lifting us above the thing we just laid down. Just sayin!

The dreaded 'recliner coma'

Do you ever have a hard time staying awake when you finally kick back in that recliner or favorite spot on the couch? It is like some mystical thing happens while you are watching TV or reading your book. Slowly, but ever so slowly, your eyes get heavier and heavier, until there is no resisting the urge to just close them for what you believe will be 'just a moment'. Then...without notice...you are snoozing away! The worst part about it is that it is only 6:30 p.m.! The sun has just set behind the hillside and the darkness has crept in - and somehow your body interprets that as it is time for a little slumber! If I happen to drift into one of these 'recliner comas' at that hour of the night, I am usually not able to get to sleep at my regular bedtime because my body will have found rest and 'recovery' after about 30 minutes! As hard as it may be to get up from the recliner and take a few laps around the house, it is what helps me to maintain alertness and to avoid the dreaded early evening 'recliner coma'. 

Stay alert! Watch out! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, searching for someone to devour. Stand up against him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being laid upon your brothers and sisters throughout the world. (I Peter 5:8-9) 

I used to think it was just 'old people' who suffered from the attack of the 'recliner coma', but I have come to realize it affects my younger children, so I am reassured that it is not an 'old people' thing! All kidding aside, there is a danger in allowing 'slumber' to come into our lives where alertness is really required. The more we fight 'slumber' from the place of 'rest', the harder it is to resist, isn't it? That is why I have to get out of the chair and walk a few paths around the house. I am forcing myself out of the place of 'rest' so that I can again make my body alert. There are times I think God is asking us to rise up out of our places of rest in order to again regain a full and consistent alertness about us in our spiritual lives. We could try to regain our alertness from our place of rest, but it isn't always possible until we 'rise up' and take the steps necessary to get the juices flowing again!

Do you know what happens when I don't maintain my spiritual alertness? I give into temptations, finding it a whole lot easier to compromise than to resist. As important as rest is to our bodies, it is equally as important to our spirit. But...God never intended for his kids to just 'rest' - we are called to do battle and battle requires us to be alert - on the watch - paying close attention - free and ready to move as movement may be required. I have an electric recliner, so to get up from it requires me to be patient while the footrest returns to the retracted position. If you need to respond quickly to something, you almost have to hurl yourself over the end of the footrest - not making for very solid footing as you move into action. Maybe there is a lesson there - in our ease and rest we don't always have the quickness to respond with the steadiest of 'standing' to life's 'urgent needs'. 

I don't think it is by accident that God reminds us to stay alert and to be on the watch. On occasion, we need to stand, take a few laps, get our bearings and footing solid beneath us, and then refocus our 'guard'. It is okay to enjoy the rest God brings into our life, but it isn't the best place to resist temptation. Resistance is by definition a place of opposition - we are withstanding some force moving against us. There will always be opposition in life - it is the nature of living on this earth. We don't resist by remaining at rest, though. We resist by allowing the energies within us to come to life - providing the force moving against us some form of opposition to that movement. As important as rest is, resistance is equally as important. Just sayin!

A little resistance training

It was Emerson who reminded us, "We gain the strength of the temptation we resist." There is much to be said about 'resistance', but the greatest realization we can experience is that when we are resisting, we are allowing the strength of that which we resist to be weakened. We resist the urge to respond in anger and anger's appeal begins to wane. We resist the need to always control and we begin to see there are other opportunities that come to light when another is given a little of that control. Why does resistance actually make us stronger? We are working against a force - strength always comes when we work against a force. We may not realize it, but what we were resisting actually has a diminished strength the next time we resist it. Why? We have grown stronger and the strength it takes to resist again is now less than it was before!

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

Give yourself to the right stuff and resist the wrong stuff - you will be surprised how much your strength grows! Those who engage in resistance training will remind you of several things. First, your own body can be the very thing you begin to use as a means of building strength into your muscles. You see, your body acts as a 'resistance' - it provides the force to build muscle. Don't believe me? While you are there right now, lift your leg using only the strength of your leg/abdomen muscles and hold it there for two minutes. Did you make it? Your own body's weight was being acted upon by the resistance force known as gravity and your body likely began to feel the strength of gravity's pull! This is a basic illustration of how resistance is actually helping us build 'muscle' over time.

Now, if we want to build 'muscle' of any sort, we have to concentrate on that which we want to 'build'. We wouldn't want to just focus on our upper arms at the expense of our shoulders, chest, lower arms, and even our hands. Why? Upper arm strength alone won't help us open that jar of pickles! We need to build all the muscles equally. In a similar manner, we need to build the 'spiritual muscles' we need to continually resist the devil's pull in life. Temptation is aimed at our weak muscles! It isn't aimed at the places we are already very strong. So, rob temptation of it's strength! Resist it a little more each time and see how much strength becomes your own in the process! Just sayin!