July 5
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5-8)
Another way we can measure our determination to not sin is to think about to what degree we want to stumble into sin and make provisions for the flesh. How easy do you make it for you to sin? What decisions do you make throughout the day that makes it easy for the flesh to take control and lead you into sin? What do you do earlier in the day that will make it harder for you to overcome sin later in the day when temptation comes knocking? Are you busy at work fortifying the defenses, or are you undermining yourself and preparing to abandon the defenses? Your resolve to overcome temptation can be measured not just by strong thoughts you have at a given moment that reflect your present determination to overcome, but also the little things you do throughout the day and the habits that you have formed that can often spell the difference between victory and defeat.
It is easy for us to be very strong against temptation at one point in time, saying to ourselves and even vowing to the Lord that we will never do such and such a thing ever again, only to find ourselves giving in to temptation at some later point, perhaps even just hours after being so strong in our resolve that we would never do such and such a sin again. What is going on here? How can we be so certain and so determined to not sin, and then be deceived by it all over again some point in the future?
I can think of at least three reasons why we can exhibit this type of yo-yo behavior, where we are so determined and confident to overcome one minute, and then be so easily deceived and such a willing participant in sin the next: (1) We are double-minded, (2) we so easily forget, (3) we make provisions for the flesh, (4) we become overconfident, (5) we are undisciplined and untrained in righteous thinking and behavior.
(1) Double-mindedness. The first reason why we exhibit inconsistent resolve in overcoming temptation is double-mindedness. We are not true believers in what we say we want. We don’t hate sin 100% of the time, and we waffle between hating sin and loving sin. I heard a very interesting message today from a lawyer who explained a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in which a man refused to send his children to public school on the basis of religious reasons, because he thought they were teaching wrong and harmful things. He maintained that position even after the state of Wisconsin threatened him with fines and lawsuits and jail time and public humiliation. Without getting over my head in the details, the gist was that the Supreme Court ended up concluding that there were two types of beliefs: beliefs that were firmly held convictions and beliefs that were preferences. They, a secular court, concluded that if a person is willing to stick to his beliefs even if it was economically detrimental, or resulted in public embarrassment or loss of social status, or was willing to face criminal charges and lawsuits because of his beliefs, then they were truly convictions and worthy of the government’s allowing them to be upheld and respected based on the First Amendment.
To be continued tomorrow.