Honest thoughts from Michael Cooper (ZCC). Thanks for sharing. “The struggle is the way to glory, and the very struggle itself is a glory.” – Dr. William Barclay I struggle with temptation. I’m tempted a lot. It is not a great mystery to me. I know what it is, where it comes from and how it behaves. It is a desire that is brought to the surface, from deep inside my heart. It is a corrupted version of my deepest longings and desires. It doesn’t seem wrong at first. It starts out as something desirable, good, and sweet. Something that is just beyond the threshold of innocence. I’m only intending to try it once. Once won’t hurt. I am able to objectively evaluate it. Just a little bit. I can stop if I really need to. I have told myself this over and over. Although it is not necessarily a sin to experience temptation, an unprepared Christian will almost certainly fall victim to it. Temptation leads to compulsion. Compulsion leads to addiction. By that time, sin has already taken root and sin always leads to death. I have a few friends and mentors who know what tempts me. They have permission to ask me how the struggle is going. If, for some reason, you are choosing to avoid the struggle with temptation, consider this: almost every temptation is a distorted version of a good gift that comes from God. Satan is often busy constructing shortcuts to the true fulfillment found in God’s plan. If you give in to temptation and never engage in the struggle against it, you are, in effect, misusing and abusing a perfectly good gift from God. So, in closing, I must ask you, dear Christian, what tempts you? Who knows? Are you struggling against it or are you still telling yourself that it’s not a problem?
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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