Hi
Ever wondered how we got tempted to do some things. Check out today’s Holy Nougat and the reflection that follows.
“Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.” James 1:14 NLT
It was only Monday that I had a similar conversation with some young people. Then, I was reminding them of the need to acknowledge our humanity. When we recognize that we have desires and are subject to temptation; it becomes a little easier to guard against them. The challenge is, many of us have succumbed to the greatest temptation humans (and probably more so Christians) face – that of thinking we are sinless.
Before you draw and quarter me, let’s think about what governs many of our actions; rather our responses, towards sin. Most times, we either don’t want to talk about its existence – because us good people don’t DO such things (yeah right!!); or we are busy purging the sin(ner) from our presence. Sounds even remotely familiar? Ask the Pharisees, Sadducees and Teachers of the Law who ‘walked’ with Jesus. They were experts, like many of us.
But back to our responses. Denial of sin unfortunately does not mean it doesn’t exist or have the potential to exist. For in our very unwillingness to address its existence lies the potential for us to be overcome by it, whether substance abuse, theft, lying or pornography. And, having thought ourselves impervious, we run the risk of yielding to temptation. No scientific proof, but it’s my theory.
In the case of the latter, that of purging the sin from our midst, it may take several formats including condemning actions-words, inviting the person to fellowship elsewhere (or dis-fellowshipping them permanently or temporarily), avoiding their company (which may be essential if we fear becoming susceptible to the same actions, but usually it’s about us registering our condemnation) or making an example of them by condemning them and comparing them to prove ourselves sinless or less sinful. Because many of us even have levels of sin, and rank the degrees of horribleness of sin.
Perhaps it is commendable that our greatest desire is to be sinless, for it would suggest that we strive toward perfection.
In case we thought that that’s what God desires though – it isn’t. We are called to holiness (1 Peter 1), but that is about us recognizing that God calls us to a life where God is priority, it doesn’t mean that God expects us to be forever sinless. For, Psalm 14, Psalm 53 and Romans 3 all make reference to the fact that Not Even One of us is wholly Sinless. Not One save for Jesus.
So if we strive for perfection, then we probably are aspiring for the wrong thing for the wrong reason. And again, it’s the desires of our heart that tempts us. But, when we put God first, God’s will, God’s plans, God’s purposes for us; strangely enough we will find that we may sin less than when we attempted/pretended to be sinless.
Today I invite us to spend some time inviting God’s forgiveness from our sins; God’s clarity to see when we’re deluding ourselves that we are sinless (or less sinful than another); and inviting God’s strength to overcome our great desires. I pray us all the strength to overcome. God bless us all. In Christ’s love and grace . . .
