As Paul Tripp says, “I wish sin didn’t appeal to me.” I wish that everything inside God’s boundaries set for us looked good and everything outside those boundaries looked bad. I wish the person who struggles against drinking excess alcohol, could just enjoy one glass of wine and be done. It can be such a battle and seems so unfair. I wish the visual beauty of the human body didn’t create in us lust for that which isn’t ours to lust after. God created us as sexual beings and physical intimacy within God’s given boundaries is good. I wish we weren’t drawn to that which is outside what He calls good….but most of us are in some way. I wish we weren’t drawn to eating in excess. God created so many tastes and smells that ignite in us a desire to want more than what is healthy for our bodies to physically consume. For some of us, a little sugar in our diet creates in us a craving that is equal to what happens with a little alcohol for the alcoholic-we can go off the rails. I wish meth or other hard drugs didn’t appeal to the person who is seduced by them. I wish it always looked like the danger that it is. It would be so much easier if we saw accurately the things that will destroy us, our families, our lives. I wish it wasn’t a temptation to lash out verbally (or otherwise) to those around us, seeking revenge against those who have hurt us. I wish I always walked in the truth that God’s ways are higher than my ways and agreed that what He says is good-is good, and what He says is bad-is bad. I wish so that we always were in agreement with Him. I wish we looked at those around us with eyes of compassion in their struggles with sin, lavishing grace upon them instead of judgement-for we all fall short. I wish I always loved and trusted Him more than myself and let Him be God instead of inserting myself and my desires in that space. But I am selfish. In this sin fallen world we all are.
I wish we lived with the understanding that our choices impact those around us. We don’t live in a vacuum. Every day set before us is life and death. We have choice. The choices we make not only create in us life or death, but also are sustaining life in our relationships or destroying them, but we often don’t think of it that way or see it that way. How is it, we as sighted beings can be so blind to the impacts of the choices we make? How is it that as sighted beings we simply don’t see the devastation our choices cause? How is it that life is often unfair? How is it that we have temptation that looks good or feels good or tastes good-that we crave, but goes completely against what God says is good? And…what do we do about it when we find ourselves in that place?
It boils down to choice. I know it may seem like I’m simplifying it too much. But what if we actually complicate it too much? What if the choice simply distills down to, letting God be God and trusting the outcome to Him and His Word and His ways? We either love Him and love others as we are commanded, which brings life to us and our relationships or we choose to insert ourselves or things we desire and trust in other than God, into His rightful place. I love Jesus’s prayer modeled for us in the garden of Gethsemane. It was a whole-truth prayer of desperation. He was literally sweating drops of blood, He was in such distress, knowing ultimately what He would face in His coming crucifixion. He loved and obeyed the Father and He loved us. He willingly chose to lay down His life for us. His prayer was the whole truth of what He was experiencing at that moment. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, Your will be done.” In other words, ‘let this pain, this sacrifice, this horrific death I’m facing pass from me. If there is any other way-deliver me from this; nevertheless if this is the way, so be it’. His death on a cross-unimaginable. His life-sacrificially uncomfortable. He came to first century earth (uncomfortable), lived and laid down His life because He loved the Father and loved us.
So my prayer for me and for you is this: “Lord, let us see what You say is bad, as ugly. Deliver us from temptation….nevertheless, if we struggle with temptation, strengthen us to deny ourselves. Give us daily what we need. Deliver us from what You say is evil. Help us to love You, Your ways, and others as we love ourselves. Help us to forgive those who have sinned against us. Thank you for Your sacrifice and example. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Today’s post was inspired by real life and one of the daily reads out of the devotional written by Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies, a daily read for me.
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