Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
I haven't broken
the 10th since...Monday.
Brian showed his
new briefcase to me.
I'm tempted to
use money saved for...to...
Or maybe I've
really kicked my addiction to plastic and...
@#$%
I don't need a
new briefcase; but I'm tempted to buy one just like Brian's because I really
like it.
I have a
briefcase.
Buuuuuuut I like
Brian's and it's so tempting to use money saved for...to...
Maybe I've really
kicked my addiction to plastic and...
@#$%
Temptations.
Bad things that
taste good.
That's why they're so tempting.
If they didn't
taste sooooooo good,
they wouldn't be sooooooo tempting.
I
gotta/wanna...have...
Buuuuuuut I know, uh, from
experience (confession) that bad things always taste good; yeeeeeeet because they're
bad things that only taste good, they always end up causing indigestion.
I get sick after
I taste 'em and never quite digest bad things that offer sooooooo much pleasure as
I'm taking that first...
The smart thing
is not to taste 'em.
That's the smart
thing that's so hard to do because they taste sooooooo good, go down sooooooo smoothly, and
then start eating away at...
So how can I/we
overcome 'em and keep the 10th or whatever other # applies when the bait
inspires a bite?
@#$%
@#$%
Just saying the
10th or any of the others that apply at the moment of a particular bad thing
tasting sooooooo good
rarely...
Just knowing bad
things tasting sooooooo good
always end up causing indigestion rarely...
There's only one
way to overcome taste buds for bad things.
Intimacy with
Jesus.
Moving closer and
closer and closer to Jesus is the only way to avoid/overcome tasty bad things
that distract us from being close to Jesus.
Or as a nun who
was falling in love with me about 40 years ago said in parting, "When
we are tempted to something bad that will taste good but then hurt us and many
around us, we must move to the...right."
@#$%
Luther said no
one can avoid temptations.
He said they are
like birds flying over our heads; but, he encouraged, we don't have to allow
them to build nests on our heads.
So the answer is
not to pretend we're never tempted or hope temptations don't come our way or...
No one is immune
to temptations; and temptations do not end until the roll is called up yonder.
The only answer
is Jesus.
Intimacy with
Him.
Being sooooooo close to Jesus
that we are not distracted from Him.
That's/He's our only salvation from bad things that taste sooooooo good.
Nothing else
works.
No one else
works.
Jesus.
Just Jesus.
Staying close to
Him is the only way to stay away from...
@#$%
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
1 comment:
Not to mention how yielding to temptation can convert what is good to what is...
I mean the fruit WAS good. The taste was genuinely fine, best tasting fruit in the garden! Nothing at all wrong with the fruit.
So, what was the problem? As you say, see #10.
They had a 24/7 all you can eat buffet open exclusively for their enjoyment. Countless fruits and nuts there at hand. More than enough to--satisfy?
And therein lies one of secrets of temptation: As long as there is something we don't have, doesn't really matter what it is, as long as there is something we don't have, we can't get no satisfaction.
Because I can still remember it more than 40 years after it happened, I think there's a good chance I will never forget it this side of eternity with Jesus. The boy came up to me in the NYC subway. He had an open package of Oreo's in his hand, and telltale signs of having already consumed several of them. "Hey, mister," I didn't respond right away since I was not at all accustomed to be address as "mister" by anybody. "Mister, can you give me some money to get something to eat?" "What do you mean, you have that whole bag of Oreos?" "Yeah, but I want french fries!" "Beat it, kid!"
Got the Oreos, want the french fries. Got the brief case, want one just like Brian's. Drive a 15-year-old Jeep, want the...
Though Christ IS All! we would have more. Though God has offered us complete intimacy with Him, we would have another, we would have more.
There is something of the idolatrous in every temptation, because all temptations, in one way or another, take His place. And whenever we act upon the irresistible urge to reach out and take/eat what tempts us, we immediately have exchanged intimacy with the object of our temptation in the place of intimacy with Him.
Satan isn't such a bad fellow, except for his always desiring to take His place. We're not such bad folks, except for always being tempted/willing to put just about anything and everything in His place. But every time anything, even the most beautiful works of God, is put in the place of God, what is good becomes converted to what is...
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