April 9 - Sweat The Small Stuff

Sweat The Small Stuff

“Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up.” (Hebrews 12:1) GW

J. Oswald Sanders, wrote a book many years ago entitled “Robust             in Faith.” One of his chapters was on Samson which was entitled, The Champion Who Became A Clown. There are few better places than we could turn to, to discover what temptation will do to our lives.  

In Judges 13, Samson begins his story with incredible promise.  Parents who prayed for him while gifted with strength and the ability to take on armies when the Spirit of the Lord fell upon him.  Though the enemy is not spoken of in this passage, we find him tempting from the beginning.  Adam and Eve are tempted in the Garden.  Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.  He wants to take us off the road of wholeness and life.  Many of us have found our lives hurting in some cases and ruined in others because we didn’t detect what was happening or we did not allow God’s strength to help us through.  We need to be careful of the tiniest areas because they can have the largest damage.

As we might discover over time, there is a big difference between trials and temptations.  Trials are always from God (or allowed by God) in order to make us succeed.  Romans 5:3 says, “We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us.”  However, temptations are always from the enemy in order to make us fail.  James 1:13 says, “Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way.” God’s plan are always for our good and the enemy’s plan are always to harm us.

Robert Burns, the poet wrote:

Thou know’st that Thou hast formed me
With passions wild and strong;
And list’ning to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong.

Chuck Swindoll once stated, “There’s a name for folks who linger and try to reason with lust: victim.  Satan is an active agent in temptation, but he’s often given more credit than he deserves. It’s up to you to resolve that you will not attempt peaceful coexistence with temptation. Avoid the things that weaken you, whatever they are. But the good news is, God is more powerful when we turn our situations over to Him.   

To describe the effect of evil desire, James 1:14 paints a word-picture of a baited fish. “Dragged away and enticed” are words from a fisherman’s vocabulary. The angler casts his tempting morsel to draw a fish out of his lair and with each toss enchants and entices with the alluring bait until the fish hits and is hooked. That’s how desire works. It lures and entices until a person is caught in the snare of sin. J. B. Phillips translates this verse, “A man’s temptation is due to the pull of his own inward desires which can be enormously attractive.” The process is the same in all temptation.

In his book The Fight, John White gives a great picture.  He writes, “Have you ever fooled around with a piano? Open the top. Press the loud pedal. Then sing a note into the piano as loudly as you can. Stop and listen. You will hear at least one cord vibrating in response to the note you sang. You sing — and a string in the piano picks up your voice and plays it back. Here then is a picture of temptation. Satan calls and you vibrate. The vibration is the “lust” James speaks of. Your desire is to go on responding to his call. If pianos have feeling, I imagine they are “resounding” when the cord vibrates. There is nothing bad about vibrating. The cord was meant to vibrate and to vibrate powerfully. But it was meant to vibrate in response to a hammer — not in response to a voice. The appropriate response, then, is not to vibrate rapturously to the voice of the devil, but to release the loud pedal and close the top of the piano.”  We will either listen to the Master’s tune or the enemy croon. 

In Hebrews 12:1, the author writes, “Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up.”  We are called to be vigilant and focused on Him while recognizing how easily we can get deterred if not acutely aware of the enemy’s devices.  Whatever you face today, remember that “Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world.”  After all, spiritually speaking, there’s nothing funny about being a clown.  

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)    Which area of your life, either great of small, tends to be your greatest recurring temptation?

2)    How can you invite Christ into that area today?

Consider reading the Word today:

 

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser