Kate, 15 months, is into everything–and dang, she can move. She is so cute the way she shuffles across the floor at blazing speed…however,
She seems to always want to migrate towards the one thing in the room she shouldn't touch (remotes, phones, lights, etc). We’ve told her no. We’ve taken it out of her hands. We’ve turned her away from it–yet still she seems to always find her way back there.
I was watching her do this the other day and actually tried pointing out to her that she literally has dozens and dozens of toys all throughout the living room…yet she is determined to get a hold of the one thing she cannot have.
Isn’t that the way temptation works? satan (intentional lower case) is SUCH a genius when it comes to this…he manages to take our eyes off of all that we do have and focus them on the one thing we don’t (or can’t) have.
He did it with Adam and Eve in the garden. (See Genesis 3:1-7) They had access to every single tree in the known world…all except for one…and he took their eyes off of all they had and put them one the one thing that God said they couldn’t have.
AND THEY FELL FOR IT!
Kate falls for it, Adam and Eve fell for it…and we will as well if we are not careful.
-He will take our eyes off of our spouse and put them on someone else.
-He will take our eyes off of our possessions and cause us to be jealous of the success of others and covet what they have.
-He will take our eyes off of all the kind deeds that someone has done for us and cause us to focus on the fact that “they didn’t return my e-mail/phone call.”
-He will take our eyes off the fact that we are incredibly blessed with more than we could have ever imagined and cause us to fear giving 10% to Jesus for the advancement of His kingdom.
-He will take our eyes off the fact that the church has been an incredible blessing to our family and cause us to not want to come back because someone gave us a dirty look or didn’t speak to us.
-He will take our eyes off of our wives and cause us to look at porn because, after all, we are men, we have needs, right? (Job 31:1!)
-He will take our eyes off the fact that we are called to go to one another and work out our issues and cause us to gossip and backbite one another.
-He will take our eyes off the fact that our bodies are the temple of the living God and cause us to abuse them through gluttony.
-He will take our eyes off the fact that our spouse and children are an incredible blessing from the Lord and cause us to see them as a hindrance to independance.
Temptation is DANGEROUS…allowing satan to put our thoughts on anything is DEADLY,
James 1:13-15 points out the destructive downward spiral of sin.
Is their junk in your life? I John 1:9 tells us how to deal with it!
Let’s NOT crawl towards the things that we know are forbidden…let’s do what Hebrews 12:1-2 says. It’s NOT easy…we will struggle, but I Corinthians 10:13 promises us we can handle it!!!
2 comments:
I have been thinking a lot about this. Sometimes we are so used to and comfortable with going the wrong way that it seems right. Even when we try to turn and go the right way, sometimes with out even thinking about it we start heading in the wrong direction and by the time we realize what we have done we are so lost that we don't know how to get back. We think we have made so much progress in the right direction and in an instant we look up and realize that not only are we going the wrong way but we are so lost we don't know which way is right.
I was snorkling once and I wanted to go deeper and look at something. I took a deep breath and headed down to what had caught my attention. I started to run out of air and I panicked and I couldn't find my way up. I started swimming around frantically. The local girl who I was swimming with grabbed my arm and let out a breath the bubbles went up. All I had to do was follow the bubbles to the surface. Had I not panicked all I had to do was be still I would have naturally floated upward.
when life is closing in on me and I can't seem to breath. All I need to do is stop, pray and rest in God's presence till I see the bubbles and can follow them to the surface.
So many times I panick and get lost.
Father,
Keep me from chasing something pretty in the distance. Keep me cloase to you, don't let me wander. Jesus let me keep my eyes on you so I am not distracted by all the stuff around me.
Amen.
The enemy of our souls has many tricks up his sleeve, and he knows exactly which one to use on us--- and unless we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will fall for it every time. I think our biggest struggle is that many of us are trying to live with one foot in the church and one foot in the world in order to maintain some sort of balance between the two, and we wonder why our Christian lives are in a mess. The ways of the world are opposed to living a godly life in Christ. The world doesn't care if your religious. In fact, the devil doesn't care if your religious and go to church -- as long as you don't take seriously what it means to walk united with the cause of Christ, committed to bring glory to God, and reach out to others with the love of God. The best description of "worldliness" that I've seen is -- "worldliness is what a society does to make wickedness look normal, and righteousness look strange." Like little Kate we all tend to reach for those things which are off limits when we allow the world's standards to guide us, but as believers in Jesus Christ as LORD we ought to let what is pleasing to HIM be our standard. We ought to allow HIS Spirit that has been deposited in our lives be our guide. If we (I) did this constantly, it sure would save us a lot of grief.
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