HopeFul Reflections

When you are stuck in sinful ways, even when you learn it is wrong, it is hard to stop. Why?

Well, let’s say you’re the average person. Your friends like to party, and you like your friends. You go with them to the party, and the temptation is in the room. However, this is the trouble. Despite our best wishes, we as people fall for temptations.

“Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.” -Proverbs 4:14

We must avoid these temptations and not be so arrogant as to believe that just because we’ve memorized half the Bible and have never done anything wrong, we can’t be tempted. The wisest man in the Bible, Solomon, was a slave to temptation. The 20th century is full of examples of good men going bad because of social and military pressure.

Now, what to do when you aren’t around the temptation? Sometimes it lingers in your mind. Well, your mind is empty. That is not an insult. Your mind will be filled by what you fill it with. When you’re hungry, you think of Chick-fil-A. When you are meditating, you think of nothing. Well, the danger of choosing nothing is that it is easy to be replaced by something. So instead, if you focus on something important, guiding, and preoccupying, this should help. Firstly, think of God and his laws. Understand why the temptation is bad. Convince yourself, just as much as you convinced yourself the first time that it wasn’t so bad. Next, preoccupy yourself. Your body is calling for temptation, and with nothing to do, out of boredom, your body will choose sin. Lastly, have an unbreakable set of rules. If you know that one specific step opens the floodgates for you to break down, don’t allow that step to happen no matter what. If somehow it does, don’t give up. You must be strong and end it as soon as possible. Get away from it all if you have to.

Now, back to the scenario. Your friends like to party, and you know yourself. If you need to go home after 11 p.m. because you make bad decisions late at night, go home. If you know certain crowds are bad for you, stay away from them. If you need a supportive friend to keep you honest, only go with them. If you can’t be trusted at the party, don’t go. Make plans to see the friends you like some other time. This may not be fun, but straying further from God’s light is worse. You lose your ability to truly enjoy that which is meant to be enjoyed. You lose your ability to see true beauty in the world and start confusing sinful thrills for the pure contentment that the world provides.

-JKG