Too Close For Comfort- WHICH DIRECTION ARE YOU HEADED?- Wednesday

If you've ever ridden a motorcycle, you will know that beginners make a big mistake with staring too intently at a place that they do not want to hit in the road.  Guess why?  They hit it almost every time.  Why is this?  It is because our body adjusts toward what we see, and a beginner cyclist doesn't know this.  With a motorcycle we are kind of "one with the machine."  After years of riding, I didn't think about driving my bike anymore.  I just flowed with the road, the turns, and the need for the throttle and brake.  I looked to where I wanted to go with my bike, not to where I didn't want to go.

I think temptation is like this, especially for Christian guys.  We know better.  We want better.  We don't want to fall over the line and we find ourselves battling all the time to keep from doing so.  I discussed this with the Father one day and told Him that I was so tired with the constant battles I was having.  I felt worn out and battle weary.  In His own way, the Lord spoke to me and asked, "Why don't you remove yourself from the temptation and you won't have to fight as much?"  Then it occurred to me that I was allowing my life to be lived near the "Event Horizon" of temptation, and this was what He was telling me to remove myself from.  I was so focused on what I wanted to prevent that I didn't realize I was being drawn to it.  When I saw the problem, my battle plan then became to walk away from the temptation instead of standing and fighting with it.  Next it was to avoid being in a place where I am tempted in that area.  I was given a simple plan.  The plan was to"Shut the door on the temptation.  Lock the door, and walk away from it!"  I would no longer allow my interest to be taken toward it.  I would no longer negotiate with it.  This plan was a major step in moving me toward the Safe Zone God wants for me, and with how to find the peace I was looking for.

I began this devotional with the little quote above that I heard growing up.  IGoogled it to find out who said it.  No one claimed it, so I'll take it.  You heard it first right here.  Right?  I doubt it.  Whoever said these words gives simplistic wisdom, especially with how to move away from or toward a temptation.  The question is, "Which way are you headed?"   I do not want to give the wrong impression that there is no hope when we fall under the downward spiral of moral, ethical and spiritual failures.  There is always hope, if we turn our back on this failure to begin a long, hard trudge toward our freedom from it.  There are consequences.  This will always be the case.  But there is hope and it begins with this question, "If you had it to do all over, what would you do differently?"  I bet you would tell us to turn our eyes and hearts away from the temptation?  We should not look at it?  We should not play with it?  We should not embrace it.  Instead, we should turn our eyes toward Christ who is the originator and finisher of our faith.

I'm reminded of a story about a young man who could talk to the animals.  It was a day when this boy was in the mountains and a sudden drop in the temperatures sent the animals into their dens.  There was a rattlesnake trapped on a rock where it had been sunning itself when the freeze came.  The snake was facing death, so he asked the young man if he would take him into his coat to keep him warm and drop him off at a lower altitude where it was warm. The boy said no, for the snake would bite him.  After pleading his case that he would never do such a hideous thing to the boy, the snake convinced the lad to carry him down the mountain.  The snake did as he said he would do and didn't bite the boy ... until he took him from his coat.  While the young man was dying from the snakebite, he asked the rattlesnake why he would do such a thing when he said he would not.  The snake answered,"You knew what I was when you took me into your trust and your bosom.  I just did what I do."

Men, if you think that you can trust the enemy of your soul to keep your secrets safe, you are mistaken.  If you think you can venture beyond theHorizon Event and not be sucked into a deep abyss of sin and decay, you are wrong.  If you think you can use common sense, or will power to try and do the right thing when you have ventured into that dangerous place, you are wrong.  You have to understand what you are up against if you hope to stand your ground and fight another day.  The ground you need to stand on is in the shadow of Almighty God, not the playground of the enemy of your soul.

Now is the time to take stock of the direction you are traveling in.  Which way are your eyes and heart pointed?  If they are fastened onto things that will lead you astray, like a beginner on a motorcycle, you will go where you are looking even though you cannot conceive of going there.  Do you really want to land at that place?  Do you really want to take that snake into your trust, knowing what he is, and what he wants to do to you?  Really?