How will your next moment of temptation go down? - Today Can Be Different
I wish I could deal with shameful behavior as easily as I delete files from my computer.
First I’d click on “Select All.” Yikes! It’s a much bigger file than I thought. Then I’d hit “Delete.” Voila! All my bad and sinful habits are gone. Incredible!
Alas, it doesn’t work this way. Therefore it may be time to take serious inventory of our choices and their end results.
Romans 6:13 (ESV) says
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
If you were to look back at your choices over the past year, whom did you present your mind and body to?
Did you present yourself to sin or to God? For unrighteousness (wickedness, immorality) or for righteousness (goodness, godliness)?
Why do we get sucked into doing things we never would have considered a few months before? Can you remember a time when you’d never dream of experimenting with drugs, checking out porn sites or lying to your spouse?
Why do we feel compelled to present or hand over ourselves (physically or mentally) to behavior that will bring about negative consequences? What would happen if we asked God to remind us what our bad choices cost us the last time we offered our members (parts) of our bodies to sin?
We can decide how our next moment of temptation will go down. The next time we’re tempted to risk gambling away our savings on a “sure bet,” we can kick ourselves and hope the self-loathing won’t last as long as it did last time, or we can experience a true sense of victory.
- Each time we choose to give in to sin, our despair that we’ll never change increases.
- Each time we choose to obey God, our confidence in His ability to keep us from future sin increases.
God’s grace to obey his Word is always available. What would our lives be like if, rather than hitting a fantasy delete button to take away all our sinful habits, we tapped into God’s grace and gave ourselves completely over to Him?
As we read God’s Word, pray for His strength, and (when needed) make ourselves accountable to someone else, we can experience God’s power, even in – rather especially in – our weakest moments.
Incredible!
What about you?
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- How will your next moment of temptation go down?
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