Temptations

Its almost funny how blind we are to the tricks of the devil. We always say we are tempted right before we sin, that right before “we do what we will not to do”, or evendont do it but endlessly struggle with it – that is when we say we were tempted. The temptation started way before then, first with little tiny seeds. Its funny how we roll out of bed brush our teeth and spend 30mins to 1 hour doing all the morning stuff and then grudgingly give God 3 minutes of reading a passege in the bible, and expect a reward, a prize, or at a minimum protection from temptation. That is when we are first tempted, and wedont even realize it.

The devil cant force us to do anything, everything we do is of your our fault and will, so as not to take “the devil made me do it attitude.” But before he advocates us to jump of a bridge, he must first encourage us to remove the parachute, thebunji cable, the harness, the trampoline, even the pegs on the way down that we could catch on to – and we gladly give em up. Then we sit there infreefall complaining and whining to God saying where are you to save me.

“Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Christ Jesus our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, butaccoding to the Spirit” Romans 7: 24

Of that verse, I always understood St. Paul with the wretched body and dispair, but I still miss the switch, it’s like he’s thanking God because he’s a hypocrite. It would be like a traffic officer thanking the government because even though the officer knows and enforces the law, that theydont have to obey it – not the signs, the lights, or any other law. Its a funny thought. But, at the same time, it makes sence because it isnt of St. Paul that he thanks God, but through Christ. Through Christ, the rules of the game changed. Outside of Christ, the rules are live by the law, die by the law, so everyone died. But for those who are in Christ, it was no longer by the law, meaning that there is life in Christ. It went from sure death for everyone to life for those whodont walk according to what the flesh says feels right, but what the Spirit, with a capitol S, the person of the trinity, knows is right. It saying the same thing as the verse “there is a way that seems right to man, and the end of that way is death”. Knowing this, wedont do what we say feels right, but do what the Holy Spirit actively tells us is right, not just not to sin, but to perform daily what God has planned for us to do.