Temptation One

Everyone experiences temptation. No matter how "spiritual" we are or how long we've been a Christian, we have been tempted. We will never out grow temptation. Sometimes it comes across as a faint whisper; other times it's a deafening shout in our mind. But regardless of how it sounds, we know what temptation feels like. If someone asked us could we define temptation?

One thing is sure, temptation always starts in the mind. It is simply an enticement to take a God-given desire beyond God-given boundaries. Many people reject this idea, refusing to believe that guilt-instilling allurements could even be remotely related to God. But let's think about this. In what ways are we most tempted. In the area of material possessions? Intimacy? Companionship? Food? These are all things that God not only created, but sometimes uses to bless His people. The problem comes when we ... who still carry around the old "programming" of our flesh nature ... take those drives beyond the healthy limits God has set for us.

Take sex for example. He created sex for reproduction and enjoyment within a marriage relationship. However, this divinely-approved desire is horribly corrupted by physical intimacy outside of marriage. And so something the Creator designed for His purposes becomes a source of guilt and shame. This is not what God intended. It's taking a God-given desire beyond God-given boundaries.

One of Satan's favorite strategies is to distort a God-given drive for his own vile purposes. But we can short-circuit such an attack by reminding ourselves where these drives came from in the first place, requesting from God the strength to use them for His glory, as He had intended them to be. Rick Warren wrote: "In one sense you can consider temptation a compliment. Satan does not have to tempt those who are already doing his evil will; they are already his" (A Purpose Driven Life). And lets remember that every time we defeat a temptation, we become more like Jesus.

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We got 2.5 inches of rain last night! It just poured all night. This was supposed to be a small, lighter storm and we got more rain than we did in the "big" storm. Shows just how good our weather people are. I think we're supposed to be dry now until sometime next week. Maybe we'll get out of this near-drought pattern after all.

Another day without plans. No, that's not quite true. I have plans to clean up the house and put it back into its desired clean state. I worked hard to get it clean last weekend and I don't want to lose all the work I did. See, that's the thing. If you spend the little time it takes to keep it clean on a daily basis, it won't get totally out of control like it tends to do. It's a lot easier to keep something clean on a regular basis than it is to put everything off until it's totally out of control. That takes a lot more effort to clean it up and put it back into the desired state.

Are you bored yet? I simply have nothing to write about. I'll venture out to the post office a little later and will try to get some reading done. I simply cannot read at night anymore. I'll read one or two paragraphs and my eyes start to glaze over. I successfully programmed my brain to go into sleep mode whenever I am horizontal. I got so tired of going to bed and reading for hours that I started working on just going to sleep whenever I went to bed and now I can't read even read when I want to. But that's fine, it just means that I'll have to make time during the day for my reading. I'm so far behind. I have books just stacked on my bedside table waiting to be read. Maybe that's not the best place to keep them now that I'm not reading in bed anymore. If I had them out here in the living room, I might remember to read a little during the day. But then, I don't have a place out here for them without adding clutter to an already cluttered house.

Well this is silly! I'm sitting here, staring at my computer screen and nothing's coming up in my brain to write so I think I'll just end my blog for today and get on with things I need to get done. Hopefully I'll have more things to write about tomorrow. It just hit me that tomorrow's Friday already! Where did the week go??? Until tomorrow ...