September 2022
Nougat 16
Some many many years ago, I had an awful reaction to gluten-based food. Now if you are even slightly familiar with Jamaican cuisine – well Caribbean cuisine actually – you know that flour (of the wheat variety) is a staple of all the good stuff. Prior to the allergic reaction, I was a serious flour-consumer (my mouth is watering at the memories of the taste of the good food). I had suspected that I was allergic, but didn’t wish to accept the reality. And that day was a public proof-positive that I should leave the gluten-based food alone and stick to a gluten-free diet.
Ugh
The hardest season of my life began. It was a serious battle to walk away from the things I was allergic to. My stomach said absolutely not; but my memories and tastebuds said ‘… but but b-b-but …’ I offer this very lengthy preamble as it is the illustration for today’s Holy Nougat
“For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.” Romans 6:7-8, 12 NLT
Having been baptized in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin. Yet, sometimes it’s as though we cannot escape it. Like my craving for gluten-based foods, our systems remember the ‘joys’ of sin and even try to minimize the long-term deleterious impact on our mortal and spiritual lives.
Despite the lure of sin, we must not remain mesmerized. To overcome sin therefore, we must have a plan that is stronger than willpower alone. (I have a theory that willpower doesn’t always work because after a while instead of rejecting the temptation, we find ourselves saying I Will I will do it 
If you are like me and the gluten-free life, walking away from sin is a daily uphill battle. There are still days that I am tempted by the good food; occasionally I yielded, in spite of the consequences. And the consequences are fairly immediate! It doesn’t have to be like that, though it might feel that way.
Then when we do yield to sin (for we will), let’s immediately find ourselves our antidote – Jesus Christ Who died for us; with Whom we also died and in Whom we can live again, outside of sin’s dreadful snare. Should we need encouragement, I urge us to revisit the graphic picture of all the parts we’d need pruned (and thrown in the fire (see John 15:1-4) or finding ourselves missing body parts). Truly, let’s pray and trust that God’s grace sustains us and allow ourselves to yield to God’s Spirit within, Who prompts and protects us from evil (temptation).
So we pray ‘Lead us lest we fall into temptation and deliver us from evil (powers) please Lord amen’. 
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May all we seek be found in Christ