The Silent Killer

Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That 'Self' Contains The Drug, Pride, Which Is Extremely Addicting And Is Known To Cause Death.

I recently prayed, "Make me humble, O Lord" but then, presumptuously, preposterously, added the clause, "but don't break me completely."

Bake me a cake but hold the flour, sugar, eggs and milk, will ya?

Rather like Augustine's famous prayer, "Lord, make me chaste, just not quite yet," I asked for the cake and wanted to eat it too. I am thankful He has a sense of humor and is a merciful and faithful God.

I think God purposed in my prayer, as it was, a revelation of self. Pride, you see, is the Silent Killer, and I think God has used this to show me, in gruesome detail, just how deeply my own pride runs. Once we are broken (and I am sure this is now a part of the breaking process) we no longer care where we were prideful. We no longer think of ourselves at all, becoming truly humble. But before that happens, I think God wants to show me my sin so that I may properly repent of it.

It was once said that conceit is the first sin to come and the last to go. It's the weed that seeds all the other sins in life. In asking God to show me my pride, He opened windows on Hell itself! Thankfully, believers are given assurance that we won't be setting foot there, lest I despair completely, for I see now that on every motive I hang a tag that says, PRIDE.

I speak to someone only to boost my standing in their eyes. I am a "pleaser of men," working, no matter how hard I try not to, more diligently in front of others. I even go out of my way to wear clothes that will make me appear more humble yet I can't comb my hair without wondering how Brad Pitt combs his. How we walk, what we eat, the projection of our voice, the words we choose, the intricate web of self that we throw up so we won't look so pale and thin.

Who is more proud than I? Perhaps none, but why do I even compare except to feed my own ego?

God did not purpose us to be pale and thin though. We are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. That brings with it enough honor to raise the head of any beggar and enough shame to bow the shoulders of the greatest king. It is enough to be content(1). We are meant to shine with the Light of God, the light eternal and unwavering, brilliant, all consuming and yet, like the bush in the desert, non-destructive. Our own light however is pale and given to extinction, though it's hot enough to burn us to cinders and often does.

I figure that's why God must break us; the very material from which we make ourselves cannot withstand our own flame, much less the supernova of God. He must break us down in order to make us of firmer stuff.

Break me Lord, break me.

(1) Paraphrase from Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

How to Fight

[Jakarta] has asked how to use Scripture to fight temptation. This is going to be a bit long (is it ever short?) but I think this one needs to be. If you want the short version, then I say, trust in Christ and pray His Word, walk away and let the situation pass. If that doesn't help (which it should) then, read on.

Temptation comes to all of us, no one gets a free pass. But we have a King that faced it just the same as we and defeated it. Christ Jesus was tempted in every way but did not sin and He has given us more than just a few things in this. One, hope. Two, strength in the middle of it. Three, weapons with which to fight. Four, a companion to walk with through the dark valley, and lastly, Five, a way out.

Proverbs says the way a young man may guard his paths against evil shall be to know the Word of God. John says that Jesus is the Word. Knowing Jesus is the only way to defeat temptation - because He already has! So we have hope. He experienced the same things you and I do everyday, even to the point of death, but in not sinning, in submitting totally to His Father, God, Christ received His Father's glory and then He gave it to us. To us! We have hope indeed!

Christ also bestowed on us strength. Let me use an analogy. I'm a fairly strong guy (smelling, you say? funny you). But you don't know how strong I am until you pit yourself against me. You don't know how strong you are either. Until we arm-wrestle and give it a serious go, you have no idea how strong I am. And you certainly don't know how strong I am if you just give in each time because you assume I am stronger. Its all theory until it goes into practice. So in arm-wrestling temptation, and being the only one never to give in, Jesus is really the only person to ever know how strong temptation really is. He knows better than anyone else what you are going through, precisely because He never sinned.

So it's true, in knowing God, and relying on His knowledge and strength, Christians know more about Good and Evil than those who have never tried to put up a fight, nor care anything about God. People prone to evil acts, or giving into temptation, have no real idea of what evil is, because they have never fought against it. On the other hand, resistance builds muscles, even spiritual ones. Resistance also brings knowledge. Perhaps this is good reason God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, because God knew full well that relying on His knowledge is far greater wisdom than that of Man's. As Jack Lewis once pointed out, a thoroughly bad man thinks he is okay, a moderately good man knows how bad he really is. And it is in knowing how bad you are that you appreciate how much God has done for you in His Son. Strength through Grace. Amen.

Third, how was it that Christ defeated the devil? Perhaps a more pressing question might be, how did the devil tempt even Christ, Himself? By quoting the Word. Satan always tempts us with just enough truth to water down the bile he attempts to feed us so we won't spit it up. He quoted Scripture to Jesus then he arrogantly questions what God said, playing on our own sense of knowledge, wisdom, and strength, wholly apart from God's. He catches us when we think ours is sufficient. Satan says to Christ, 'If you are God's Son, do this, for it is written...' 'Did God really say...?' Now, how do you know what Scripture Satan is quoting or what from what context it was given if you don't know the Word, yourself? Christ answers Satan every time by quoting more of God's Word back to Him because He knows the Word well enough to respond accordingly. So must we. You need to know God's Word, memorize it, keep it in your heart ready to pull out at a moment's notice.

God's Word out of context is a weapon against us, but in context, with a Spiritual understanding, God's Word is a weapon against temptation. We must rely on the One who embodies and fulfills the Word, the One who knows the Word fully, Christ. And He knows the Word, because He IS the Word. God's Word is our weapon. Jesus is the Sword and the Sword Wielder.

We are given a companion to walk with as well, for the same reason that He is our Strength, the Weapon and the Wielder. He experienced it, fought it, defeated it. He knows well the paths you must travel and is there to help you along the way.

And for the very reason that He made it through this world by the Strength of God, has shared that Glory and Strength with us now, and walks with us and loves us with (truly) an undying Love, He is our way out. He really is all we need. So get to know Him well and let Him know you fully too, trusting Him with all your troubles.

If you need Scriptures to help with certain temptations, get your Bible, perhaps a good concordance, and memorize those helpful to you. I will give a short list, but as Satan attacks each of us differently, we must really be prepared to fight him according to how we are usually tempted. For instance, if it is sexually, you may want to remember

1 Corinthians 6:18-20, "Flee sexual immorality! 'Every sin that a man does is outside the body,' but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

Remember this and recite it over and over each time you are brought to temptation, then flee, as it says. If you are tempted by the magazine racks, avoid them. If you are tempted by someone in your office, pray and physically turn away (or purposely act like a moron - he/she will think you're an idiot, but your spouse will think you're a hero!)

Perhaps you are tempted by material items?

Psalms 119:72, "The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces."

Recite that, pray fervently and then walk right out of the situation. Trust in God to handle your temptation for you and He will. It will pass, I promise and the dawn will break. The Son will Rise again.

The Great Debate?

A terribly volatile subject:
It is most embarrassing, though probably shouldn't be, to Christians when a politician professes a profound "faith in God" and then proceeds pandering to the opposite, blatantly immoral side, exploiting both to win votes.

I say its embarrassing because to those voters (or mere onlookers) lost in the limbo of not knowing what to believe, it appears as though Christians, all of us, are hypocrites - or at least instead of standing for an ideal, we play hopscotch around it. Also, more so in the US than in other countries, "faith in God" to many means "faith in Jesus Christ." Not necessarily so.

I also add that we shouldn't be so embarrassed because what are we to expect? Honestly, we all do it on some level, why not particularly so when the stakes are so high? The more (potential) power you have, the higher the (potential) temptation. How much more power can you get in this world at this time than being President of the USA. Aside from that, just because one says they are faithful doesn't really prove anything. Lets see some of it in action, buddy. "So also, Faith without works is dead." (Jas 2:17)

The recent forum in Pennsylvania, a faith forum at that, offered Clinton and Obama both the opportunity to profess said "faith in God" and then answer questions offered up by leaders from several different faiths.
Go ahead and give that a read then pop back on over here and finish reading this.
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So? What do you think? If you are shocked, I will say you are naive. But what grabs my attention is that, even in the news was it seen as a blatant and shameless bid for votes. I would say that Clinton sounds like the tongue of Satan himself, except that the devil isn't usually so transparent or dumb. Potential for life? Obama had the stuffings to say that he didn't know. Maybe he doesn't, but it still sounds like a cop-out to me.

Lets get on the same page here. Are we all speaking American English or what? What do they mean by life? Potential for life? That egg cell is alive and that sperm certainly is as well. Those are alive. Ah, do you mean, is it capable of sustaining life on its own without help from another? No. But lets not be coy, neither are you.

Do they mean life in the sense of a soul "being made?" Is there a soul there? Ah, there is the big debate.

Remember these guys are saying they have "faith in God." If we say that a soul comes into being with the first breath of life, well, as plausible in some circles as that may be, we know it isn't true Biblically. King David says so humbly in Psalm 51:5 that he was a sinner from the moment his mother conceived him.
So we must insist that the soul is poured into our being at the onset, given by God at the melding of the love between our parents, or even, in the basest of circumstances, the rape of our mother. Well, should we then fall into the Catholic boat of all intercourse being sacred and no contraceptives allowed?

Who is to say it isn't? Of course it is! Everything we have should be taken as sacred! Eating, drinking, playing. Talking to your neighbor. God pronounced all of His creation, "good." As my favorite writer (whom I imagine you all know) once said, 'Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest thing presented to your senses.' Since we take all these too lightly, what is stopping us from taking this great moment 'as two become one' so? Was the Lord not angry when Onan spilled himself on the ground because he knew that any offspring born of his brother's widow would not carry his name? Read Gen. 38:9. Apparently the Lord finds it sacred.*

The act may be (thank you, good and wise Lord) pleasurable, but it's God who gives life, so even when done for "enjoyment," if He so deems to give life, then it is His deeming. When it is done with blatant disregard to the fruits that said action may bring, you are not only being flippant with life itself but disrespectful of God. Whether someone was raped or whether it was planned out to the last detail, who are we to take any life so capriciously? If I'm not mistaken, I think we have invaded countries because people have been capricious with life.

I won't be a hypocrite. I am guilty of this - terribly so. More so than even I, myself, am capable of knowing or understanding. I am a proud and foolishly thoughtless man guilty of every sin. Since then, if I trust my life to Christ, then it is His light that must shine, not mine, nor anyone else's.
On the other hand, I'm not running for office, and those who do so I hope will follow out their thoughts to the end of the line. For certain not all the voters will do so, but many will. Christians and non-Christians alike. So, come on folks, lets be clear where we stand, for one thing or another. Pandering to every whim only makes for blathering fools. You cannot serve two masters, and Christians should know that.

*I like Shane Claiborne's footnote to this issue of abortion from "The Irresistible Revolution": "...if I'm going to discourage abortion, I had better be ready to adopt some babies and care for some mothers." There is a lot to that, but not everything is contained within it. There are orphanages and care centers - most run by Christians. That doesn't mean that only the people who work there have a right to speak out on the subject, but it might be said we listened to them a bit more than to those of us who don't.