If you struggle in temptation and fight against sin because you are in love with an idea you have of yourself as a holy soul or a religious person, you might succeed for a little while, but sooner than later you will fail and fall into sin. And this, in fact, is God's mercy, for you are only flattering the flesh.
If you struggle in temptation and fight against sin because you believe in goodness or morality or the sovereignty of God or because of your duty to observe the state of life you have chosen for yourself, you might succeed for a time, but eventually you will also fail.
But if you don't fight temptation at all, but instead rejoice to find yourself in temptations because you realize that in them God has found you worthy of embracing Christ crucified and sharing in his sufferings, and that this suffering is the resetting of the dingy sack of broken bones that is your mortal nature deformed and miserable in the effects of original sin--a procedure for which there is no anesthesia--then you have found the remedy for sin and the path from death to life.
4 comments:
That was exactly what I needed to hear and learn today. Thank you!
You have written similar things before, and they've opened my eyes to the proper way of dealing with temptation. I'm very thankful for this post.
Marvellous post - many, many thanks for this. I've taken the liberty of quoting it over on my own blog...
The image of rejoicing temptation is one that I had not considered for a very long time. There is consolation in these words!! Thank you !! Cathy
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