Temptation

 Does Temptation's pull increase with each consecutive failure to hold it at bay, or does it increase more with each consecutive instance at which it is held at bay? 

Because we have experienced personally no other reality than the former, in which temptation has been given into, we might say that temptation grows - as we have experienced the indulgence of sin and hear its beckoning call. But this is all we have ever known. We have not known the force temptation brings to bear as it is continually discarded in favor of obedience to God. 

Jesus is the only example we can look to in order to shed light on the alternate. 

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens - Jesus the Son of God - let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need." Hebrews 4: 14-16

He was tempted in every way we are and yet remained obedient and without sin. C.S Lewis Explains the contrast quite clearly between the strength temptation has on those who have already relented and those remaining firm in obedience. 

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses because he did not give into them. If this were not the case then the text would read that he could empathize. He does not confirm our temptations as an empathic person would, only our weakness; however, he can have compassion on us, and on those ignorant and going astray because he also was subject to weakness.  

The longer we hold temptation at bay the stronger its pull will become, and the more its truth will be made known to us. Vs. 8 in Hebrews 5 says that Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered and that through this he was perfected, becoming the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. 

Continue to walk against the wind.

Let the needles hit the ground

     Storms are not generally anticipated with a demeanor of eager giddiness. Both storms that occur in nature, and those that present themselves in our lives. But storms are purifying, and they reveal truth. Take, for instance, the picture Jesus gives us of the two houses. One built on solid rock and having a firm foundation, and the other built on sand. From the street, these two homes would look quite the same, indistinguishable in fact without further inspection. The pivotal difference is not revealed until the moment of crisis. The storm exposes at the most foundational level the validity of that which the homes are both built on. One collapsing under its false claim of being structurally sound, and the other standing against the thrashing of the wind and rain. The point I am getting at is that in order to discern what is true and standing, sometimes we need a storm. Those trying to sell the home built on sand will have a rough go at it after the storm, as it's masquerade has been unequivocally revealed to all the families currently on the market for real estate.

 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matt 7: 24-27

    Aliken the storm mentioned above to the experience of buying a Christmas tree. Bear with me. If you happen to visit an old Christmas tree farm to enjoy the process of cutting down your own tree you might see an oddly elongated contraption that's sole purpose is to shake the tree. After having been cut down the tree is placed horizontally on the contraption and with the start of an engine is shaken. The purpose of this is to remove all the dead pine needles from within the tree so that only the living, green, attached ones remain - saving your vehicle, and home from a plethora of dead pine needles which will fall out upon any disturbance. Once again we see that a (storm, struggle, or general shaking up of things) tends to distinguish dead from living, truth from facade. 

    This realization has given me great hope and contentment. For the shaking that we see all around us in the uncertainty of the times, the political divide, and the unruliness of 'scientific fact' is all happening under God's authority - And when God shakes things, he does so to reveal to us how those things which can not be shaken will remain. So I say let the needles fall. 

"See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven.”  Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain." Hebrews 12: 25-27