Tough Temptations?
Note To Myself: Yeah, just go for it, wait … no, no, no, consider the impact that choice would have on somebody! Whatever … I want it … but that would hurt my friend’s feelings! We usually have three doors to choose from regarding how we think and approach our decisions in life. Long before we realize that these doors even exist we are crawling or walking through them. Most of us will ultimately choose to blend emotional decision making with logical or rational governance, but it’s our own secret recipe we are working with, not the ordinary ingredients which will make the final difference. Should we add or extract some logic or shake in more emotion? Purely emotional or entirely rational decisions produce very different life results, as do the endless shades of grey in-between. Temptations abound every day of our lives and some are more inviting and riskier than others. We all face temptations, but we don’t all consider them. “And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5-7 ESV) On rare occasions, holding all emotion at bay, is the best way to overpower temptation, “And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.‘” (Luke 4:8 ESV). The question remains, just how do we ordinary, emotional people go about addressing all of the other temptations and difficult situations presented to us?
Jesus, some 75 generations of temptations removed from Adam (Luke 3:23-38), accomplished this with the help of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22). Since then, for the little children and those of us baptized in his name by choice, the Holy Spirit has been available for all things less apocalyptic than the bloom or doom of the entire universe. That’s what’s so very special about our decisional secret recipe of rational emotion. Our problems start with not recognizing temptations and end with what was I thinking. When we attempt to make do in life without the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit, we are often left innocently sniffing and nibbling away at many of the forbidden fruits of temptation. “Just Do It” is a marketing pitch thrown at us by a shoe and clothing company, which has the devil smiling with every promotional pitch of it and deeply laughing with our every gluttonous swing. Just let the Holy Spirit be the balance between logic and emotion.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE (share)
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