So if you think you are standing firm...

This blog has really nothing to do with my mission trip, but I came across an article so interesting that I wanted to write about it.

Here's the article link.

The article itself is not that long, and I suggest you just read it first, but if you're that lazy here's the main point:

If you think you're generally good at resisting temptation, you're probably wrong, scientists now say.

"People are not good at anticipating the power of their urges, and those who are the most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give into temptation," said Loran Nordgren, senior lecturer of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in Illinois.

The result: Many of us unwittingly expose ourselves to tempting chocolate or cigarettes, leading to a greater likelihood of indulging in addictive behaviors. (italics mine)

It's interesting study, but should be nothing new to Christians. God through Paul gave us this proverbial truth two thousand years ago! Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" Paul understood that when people become confident in their self-control, their ultimate source of dependency is upon the finite, imperfect power of man (self), rather than the infinite, perfect power of God. And Paul knew far too well that the moment we think we're strong because of our own strength is actually our greatest moment of weakness.

Think back to anything you are struggling with or have struggled with in the past. For males, we obviously think of our everyday battle with lust. We can all remember those rock-bottom, can't-turn-anywhere-else moments where we just know we can't battle our lust on our own. So we begin praying and reading His Word for strength. We set up accountability with faithful brothers who will keep us in check. We set personal boundaries for ourselves, such as leaving the computer outside of our room or not using the computer after a certain time. And it works. We begin to start winning that daily battle with the power of God and through the accountability of His people.

But then, we look back to that dark day of hopelessness and count the days since the last relapse. We start slacking in our fervency of prayer or diligence in reading the Word. We feel we don't need to call up our brothers anymore. Oh the wretchedness of man when he relies upon past successes instead of the abundant future grace of God! And it's in that moment when we think, "Hey I got this. I can use the computer in my room alone in the middle of the night. I'll be fine.", that we've begun tumbling down that slope that inevitably leads to failure.

But let us not lose hope! Paul continues to write in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." God is that way out! He wants us to stand firm under the perfect power of his grace rather than our weak effort.

If as the article says "those who are most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give into temptation," then I believe the Christian should live according to the contrapositive of this statement, "Those who are most confident about their not self-control (God's control) are the most likely to not give into temptation." As a Christian we give up our control over the situation. We are far too weak and vulnerable to achieve perfect mastery on our own. We lift up our anxieties unto God and His control and ask for His mercy and grace in our time of need.

However, when I refer to God's control, I do not in anyway excuse the responsibility of man to choose the right over the wrong. I've heard testimonies of how addicts completely lost their desire for drugs once they experienced the amazing love of God. But I don't think God always makes the desire of temptation go away. Bringing it back to men and lust again, God's wired us to be sexual creatures. Knowing how we're tempted, should God rather turn off our sexual desires while we're single and flip it back on when we're married? (Although I'm sure many of us have probably wanted this at one time or another!)

No, God gave us responsibility and power to make moral decisions, even if our sinful desires bend us so far towards the wrong decision. But there is one more helpful hint from Paul that we see in 1 Corinthians 10:11: "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us." In context of the entire passage, Paul has been referring to how the Corinthians should deal with idolatry. So he retells how God severely punished idolatry in the past as an example and warning for the Corinthians. And Paul writes in verse 13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." Basically, there's nothing you're dealing with that you or someone else hasn't dealt with before!

Thus there's no way we can try to blame God and say, "God, it's your fault, you pulled a slick one on me." The Scripture says that God is faithful and He will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. But I also think God wants us to be smart and learn from past failures of ourselves and of others. The senior researcher, Loran Nordgren gives this helpful advice: "Avoid situations where such weaknesses thrive, and remember you're not that invincible." Basically, learn from example! For males (again, I know), what makes you think that if you fell because you were home alone before, you won't fall this time? Be smart and avoid situations where you know from the past temptation will be the greatest. Because in the end, God can just turn it right back at us and just say, "Eric, you know you fall when you do this or that, so it's your fault you keep putting yourself in that situation." And as Paul basically exhorts the Corinthians, "Learn from the mistakes of others."

I think there are some mistakes that just aren't worth making to learn from. The cost is too great. I know some people (myself included) have had or have the mentality of "How can you be so sure it's wrong until you've tried it?" or "It won't happen to me, I'm stronger than that." I talked to Ashley Chin today about how important it is to be plugged into a good local church especially in college. How many friends do we know who have severely hampered their faith or even fallen away upon going away for college because they didn't find a church (and more importantly, accountability)? It's an unfortunately high statistic that I would never gamble on. And I thank God every time I think about how I stayed at UCLA instead of going to Berkeley (even if it was for the wrong reasons), because God showed me the matter of life-and-death importance of being plugged into the church.

We're not invincible, and we were never meant to be. There's a reason why even the "weakness of God (like He has any) is stronger than man's strength" (1 Co. 1:25). There's a reason why God's power is "made perfect in weakness" (2 Co. 12:9). God wants us to depend on Him alone in every circumstance and situation, in every temptation and battle.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

In Christ Alone,
Eric