Peter Kreeft’s book Back to Virtue has some good
thoughts that are worth mulling over:
“God often withholds from us the grace to avoid a lesser sin because we are in danger of a greater sin. To avoid pride, he sometimes lets us fall into lust, since lust is usually obvious, undisguised, and temporary, while pride is not” (168).
At first glance,
this doesn’t seem to make sense. Why would God allow one type of
sin in order to keep us from another type? It almost seems to
contradict James 1:13-15 (ESV), “Let no one say when he is tempted,
‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil,
and He himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is
lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has
conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings
forth death.” James makes it clear that sin always begins and ends
with self, not God.
So if self is
the problem, why would pride be worse than lust? After all, it can be
pride that says “I deserve this pleasure” or “I can handle this
temptation.” But I think the greater danger is the pride that says
“I successfully fought that temptation by myself,” and thereby
denies God all the glory. He is less concerned about sins that cause
us to cry out to Him for mercy and grace than about sins that make us
think we don’t need Him. I can safely say that I don’t want to go
back to the days when sin hardened my heart and drew me away from
God. With a softer heart each sin hurts more, but it causes me to run
to Him and not from Him.
Kreeft quotes
Samuel Smiles:
“Sow
a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a
character. Sow a character, reap a destiny” (169).
There was a time when certain sins
became so habitual that I’m sure it started to change my character,
though I didn’t realize it at the time. Disdain for people, hiding
my sin, building walls around my heart and my life—these weren’t
harmless decisions. And reversing the process had to start with
breaking down those walls to let others see that my true character
was not what it appeared to be. Only from that place of vulnerability
and accountability could I then break down the habits and cease the
acts and thoughts underneath (or at least start to make progress
against them). “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the
flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from
the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).
Another good quote from Kreeft:
“We are promised the great and inconceivable gift to see God face to face, just as he is... It is what we were made for, our ‘pearl of great price,’ our ‘one thing necessary’. If we only knew, we would eagerly sacrifice anything and everything in the world for this” (171-172).
That reminds me of C.S.
Lewis’s comments about us “fooling about with drink and sex and
ambition when infinite joy is offered us” (The Weight of Glory).
I confess I would like just a glimpse of that infinite, eternal joy
so that the things of earth would “grow strangely dim,” but I
suppose that would negate the need for faith and hope. If we could
see exactly what was coming, we wouldn’t have to trust that God
will one day make all our obedience worthwhile.
Recently I have returned to an old
practice of praying through the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-17)
before I start my day. It is a reminder to me that I can’t do this
alone. I have also found encouragement from Isaiah 41:10:
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
God will strengthen us for the
battle if we will keep turning to Him. He will help us and protect us
by His grace and for His glory. And when we do fall, as we often
will, it is His righteousness that upholds us and not our own failed
attempts at righteousness.
“I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the
garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of
righteousness...” (Isaiah 61:10).
© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise
indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.
