Is there such a thing as a monthly sin?
Because I think I have one of those.
Well. It’s more often than just once a month. But I tell you what: there is legitimate reason for my family to duck and cover at about that interval. Hormones tend to wear my self-control down to a lil’ ol’ nubbin, and there I am: The Incredible Hulk. I’ve written about my anger problem pretty openly, but lest you (or I) think I’ve mastered it, let me just clarify.
NO WAY.
I wish that was the only habitual vortex that sucks me in, but nay. There are some that get me every. Single. Day: the worship of others (people-pleasing). The worship of yours truly (selfish ambition, conceit). A weird form of coveting. And a lot that really don’t sound so good in any blog post.
So I’ve been thinking honestly about temptation lately, collecting a little dossier of what I know.
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God doesn’t scorn me for being tempted.
Jesus was tempted, for crying out loud. Temptation is real, and he knows it’s there.
Clarification: From my own experience, temptation is a slippery ol’ slope. A lot of times I’ve slid into sin in my heart when I might insist I was just being “tempted”. But he is not a tyrant king. He says it outright: I’m not condemned (Romans 8:1). God doesn’t reject me:
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God’s with me in it.
If we gain anything from God choosing to be born in a barn, we can see that he is God-in-my-mess. Someone told me recently of a young person who prayed for years for God to not make them gay. This excellent article recently reminded me that no matter how embarrassing my temptation is, God doesn’t need me to get my act together before coming to him. He’s the Lion of Judah, the fighter of my battles alongside me.
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My temptation plays up the desires already inside of me.
James delineates that
each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (1:14-15)
In this podcast, Tim Keller likens this to a phenomenon I’d never heard of. Did you know that if you shout inside a piano, the strings of your shout’s pitch will reverberate back to you? (I know. Cool, right?) Keller explains that temptation plays on the “strings” in our hearts that are already there. A friend and I might experience the same situation together and be tempted in entirely different ways because of our unique makeup. We want to blame the devil, but as Keller says,
The devil cannot make a good person bad. That devil makes a flawed person worse. The devil plays on what’s already in you.
I’d modify this to say my own temptation plays on what’s in me, whether from a outside source or not!
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Jesus’ example: Hit it with Scripture.
In a tempting season lately, I’m trying to have a verse at the ready–like my boys with their Nerf swords, only much more real–to take control of the battlefield of my mind. That’s where pretty much everything starts. So I’m seeking to be alert (1 Peter 5:8, baby), taking every thought captive and making it obedient, demolishing arguments that set themselves up against God in my mind (2 Corinthians 10:5).
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Joseph’s example: Get outta there.
I keep reminding myself (because this is a mind game, folks) to resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). I think of Joseph, taking off from Potiphar’s wife, leaving his coat in her sweaty little hand. This word “flee” comes from the same root word as “fugitive”, which of course a) makes me think of Harrison Ford, and b) reminds me to stay on the run until the threat is gone. (I talk about this a little in this post on how to deal when married, Christian and being attracted elsewhere. )
Honestly, it’s hard to write a post on temptation and not make it sound like I’m parochial; like I’m this stultifying person who shakes in fear at doing the wrong thing. But you know–what if I saw sin for what it was? A cancer of the soul. Handcuffs, or even prison, of my own choosing. Honestly, I would flee cancer. I would flee an unjust prison. And from what I see about Jesus interacting with a handicapped human body, there are handicaps of the soul that are much more paralyzing (Luke 5:17-39).
6. The GPS principle.
Take it from a person who is one of the least spatial on the planet, and who could get lost in her own driveway: If you’re constantly sticking to the GPS, you get lost a lot less easily. (Turn right out of driveway. …Recomputing.) Paul reminds us to keep to the internal GPS:
walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)
Read: Keep your mind on the GPS–the Holy Spirit–rather than on getting lost. Then you’re much less likely to accidentally take a turn off a cliff. (That’s my own personal translation.)
This week, may God keep you glued to your GPS.
If we go into the desert with our faults still hidden within us, they no longer hurt others,
but our love of them remains. Of every sin not eradicated, the root is still growing secretly within.
…If we still see these signs within, we know that it is not the desire to sin
but the opportunity to sin which has vanished.
– Desert father John Cassian
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