Early indications, in the war with evil, are absolute
predictors of outcome, unless divine intervention saves the day. Long before the act of evil is committed -
are the thoughts, motives, and selfish interest that spark, take hold, and
begin their practice of building the chains that hold us in bondage. We craft each link one after the other,
stepping deeper into darkness, and farther away from light; going just a step
or two further than the last time down this road, just to see what it looks
like. And soon, we are so far down the
darkened highway, we have no idea where we are, how we got here, and are
hopeless to find our way back home. But
it all starts with the little things. It
begins with decisions and choices so small they seem meaningless, but are in
fact significant. It does not look like
much of a chain of bondage when only seeing the first few links.
You may ask, “what does it matter what I wear?” On the surface, it doesn’t. But underneath what we wear is an indicator
of how we feel, and more to the point, an indicator of what we are planning to
do. You don’t go in a bikini to church
(usually J),
and you don’t wear a tuxedo when working on your car for example. We send ourselves clues and reinforce our own
plans and perceptions by the things we wear.
Our Maker knew this, He knew that with the entrance of evil into our
world would come the perversions that darken our natures. No longer could we be both naked and
innocent, so covering ourselves became required. How we cover ourselves these days with as
many choices. fabrics, styles, and societal norms speaks more about us and our
choices than ever before.
The term “dress for success” is often used to help motivate
people to wear the clothing of those they aspire to become. It is designed to give us a mental cue that
we look the part, now we need to become the part. But the converse of this is also true. We “dress” for infidelity both to our spouse
and to our God. We leave off looking for
God’s armor and instead cling to robes that we are too comfortable in. Robes of convenience and easy access. Robes of familiarity. And ultimately, robes of failure, that are
sure to deliver us to the evil we plan to commit.
Submitting is just not so easy a task. It seems easy enough. It sounds easy enough. I mean how hard is it to simply “give
in”? The hard part comes with the
realization that giving in to God will mean a change in our behavior. There is not a question of “IF” God is going
to change us. He does. Every time, without fail. That surety however sparks a different
thought process in the tempting cycle – do we really want a change today? This is the question the evil one designs to
get us to begin reassembling the chains of bondage he wishes us to wear. Just ignore the victories that God has
brought, and take “a day off”. Its no
big deal right? Just one day off? You can go back to being a prude tomorrow if
it means that much to you.
But one day off, is not at all what evil intends. Once the initial barrier has been broken
down, a second day is at least half has hard to accept. Day three requires only a passing thought and
by day four the habit is back on track.
Relapse as a part of the addiction cycle is an unfortunate reality in
our world. Both in chemical addiction,
and in the war to restrain self will.
But the response to relapse must be the same in both to keep the damage
to a minimum. One day off the wagon is one
day too many. Get right back on that
mythical wagon, or in spiritual terms, get right back on your knees and turn it
over to God immediately. We already know
God does the work. He has proven that
over and over. There is no question
about whether God will give us a victory, only if we will accept it.
Self deception can be a monster. After enough days of sobriety, an addict can
begin to think they are “past it”. In
spiritual terms, we can begin to believe that God has changed the desires of
our hearts away from evil things since we have not committed them for some long
length of time. The problem with this
thinking, is that it leads us away from the idea of daily dependence and
submission. The minute you think you do
not have a problem, you come to believe you do not need any help with it. Can’t fix what is not broken right? This thinking leaves you all alone to face
the evil one again. And here we go again
with the old – take a day off of your sobriety wagon and have some fun
argument. Before you know it, you have
proof that you are indeed NOT “past it”.
Alcoholics must identify themselves this way as long as they live. It is a recognition of their condition. Sinners are NO different.
And speaking of self deception; the alcoholics are the lucky
ones. The lady who refers to herself as
a crack whore is far better off than the Christian who does not see his own
deficiencies. The chemically addicted
can get help. For HELP is what they
need. They cannot fix it themselves, but
help can get them fixed. Christians are
no different. Except the ones in
denial. Christians who do not accept
that the sin in their lives is every bit as strong as any chemical addiction
are fooling themselves big time. And by
denying their condition, they avoid treating it, they avoid changing it, and they
wallow in the pain they cause themselves.
This is the kind of self deception that can lead a Christian to a
terminal condition – not wanting change, forgiveness, or a better life.
If you look at your character and see all the ugly, count
yourself blessed. Not blessed because
you ARE ugly in your soul, but because you CAN see it. The truth is we are ALL ugly in our
souls. We hide it, cover it up from each
other, pretend it does not exist. But it
does. It is rampant and out of control
in most folks. The difference between
the average “man on the street” and “Saddam Hussein” is opportunity. Most people have not ever experienced control
without consequences so they do not know how they would react in that
situation. But take a closer look at all
the little things they have experienced, and you can extrapolate how bad they
would be with unbridled power and control.
Those seemingly innocent acts that enrich you at the expense of another,
are the basis of character that align you with every despot in history.
Ugly is not cool, not hip, and not to be desired – ugly is
ugly – that is all. God can fix the
ugly. He can surgically remove it. He can get it out of us and recreate beauty
in its place. But only God can do
it. And only once we admit we need Him
to do it. People only consult a surgeon
when they believe they have a problem.
When you think your faults are just eccentricities, or that your
malevolent nature is “not that bad”, or you simply think of yourself as “a good
person” – you have no need of a Savior.
No need leads you into darkness, as sure as those who are in darkness
focus on the light to get away from it.
There is no middle ground. There
is no self destiny. There is only
submission – either voluntary to God, or forced by the evil one.
I believe our decision process starts earlier than we are
aware of: in the things that send us mental cues; in the environment we find
ourselves subjected to. There are a
variety of influences all working in concert to keep us distracted and too busy
to go to God and submit our wills to Him.
Once this has been done each day, the tempter must find other prey. For God answers our prayers and controls our
will as we let Him. And in this work, He
changes us at our very core. The evil
one knows this, and it is why he works so hard to keep us from achieving
it. Including trying to win us back on
the heels of a relapse, but we must not allow him to win our attention. We must continue to give up to God, and allow
him to win the fight we need won.
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