Daily Devotional For Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Well, this week is off and running. We have had an inauguration of President Trump as President of the United States and J.D. Vance as Vice President. For the Wilmington area, we are currently under a “Winter Vortex Warning” starting this evening through Thursday. We may get some snow and possible ice in this winter vortex. So, please be very careful if you have to go outside and get on our roads. “Wilmingtonians” do not know how to handle nor drive in snow unless they moved here from up north. When it comes to hurricanes, we know what to do and how to prepare for them. Snow brings panic for some adults but joy to the kids.
Snow is beautiful and it is tempting to decide to go drive around to see how beautiful it is. Did I say something like “tempting?” Every single Christian, disciple and Christ follower battles temptation. Not only do we know where we are vulnerable, so does our enemy the devil. He has been doing this all the way back into eternity when he convinced and tempted ⅓ of all the angels to rebel with him against God. Well, we know how that ended, don’t we?
Pastor and author John Ortberg wrote in his book, The Me I Want To Be, the following:
“Recently my wife and I went fly-fishing for the first time. Our guides told us that "to catch a fish you have to think like a fish." They said that to a fish life is about the maximum gratification of appetite at the minimum expenditure of energy. To a fish, life is "see a fly, want a fly, eat a fly." A rainbow trout never really reflects on where his life is headed. A girl carp rarely says to a boy carp, I don't feel you're as committed to our relationship as I am. I wonder, do you love me for me or just for my body? The fish are just a collection of appetites. A fish is a stomach, a mouth, and a pair of eyes.
While we were on the water, I was struck by how dumb the fish are. Hey, swallow this. It's not the real thing; it's just a lure. You'll think it will feed you, but it won't. It'll trap you. If you were to look closely, fish, you would see the hook. You'd know once you were hooked that it's just a matter of time before the enemy reels you in.
You'd think fish would wise up and notice the hook or see the line. You'd think fish would look around at all their fish friends who go for a lure and fly off into space and never return. But they don't. It is ironic. We say fish swim together in a school, but they never learn. Aren't you glad we're smarter?” (Source: John Ortberg, The Me I Want To Be, pp. 137-138).
Sometimes I wonder if we are smarter than fish or animals in general. At times it seems we are driven by drives or instincts or hungers that seem more like an animal than a person with an ability to rationally choose. In fact, many people still give into temptation even though they know it is harmful to them or someone else. People smoke cigarettes or e-cigarettes or vape or dip knowing ahead the risks. People still drink and drive knowing the risks. People still have unprotected sex knowing the risks. Have you observed that we live in a culture that wants all the temptations and risks without any of the consequences. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says this: “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure” (NLT).
For the Christian, the disciple of Jesus Christ, the Christ follower, we have a way out of temptation every time. That is how awesome our God is. We do not have to be slaves to our instincts, drives, desires, lusts and vulnerabilities. We have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit in us that will always give us a way out.
Forces of darkness are hard at work in our world to redefine what is moral and immoral. We see evidence every day that people, (including people standing on our church platforms and sitting in our pews), are not immune to these influences. But it is absolutely imperative that we not lose sight of the character of God and what He expects of His people. He is the Lord. He does not change, nor will He ever change. We may have updated His Word from “thee” and “thou,” but its call to holiness is the same as the day it was spoken.
So, we don’t have the privilege of redefining what is moral and immoral. If you find yourself teetering on the edge of giving into temptation, remember that you have a High Priest in Heaven who was tempted during His time on Earth, and He understands. Because He lived a sinless life, yet died on a cruel cross for our sins, you have been delivered. This is the promise of Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (NASB). You will still face temptation, but you have been freed from its grip.
“If we give into temptation, we are being led to a spiritual slaughter. In his book Tempted and Tried Russell Moore recounts an NPR program about a scientist named Temple Grandin who is researching new ways to gently kill cows. It's an important issue because if the animals experience high stress levels prior to death, hormones get released that lower the meat quality. Thus, Grandin has been exploring how to keep the cattle calm as they are being led to slaughter.
Grandin's research has led to one simple insight: novelty distresses cows. The key is to keep everything in their lives feeling and looking as normal and natural as possible. Russell Moore summarizes Grandin's techniques for gently killing the cows:
Workers shouldn't yell at the cows, [Grandin] said, and they should never use cattle prods, because they are counter-productive and unneeded. If you just keep the cows contented and comfortable, they'll go wherever they're led. Don't surprise them, don't unnerve them, and above all, don't hurt them (well, at least until you slit their throats at the end).
Along the way, [Grandin] devised a new technology that has revolutionized the ways of the big slaughter operations. In this system the cows aren't prodded off the truck but are led, in silence, onto a ramp. They go through a "squeeze chute," a gentle pressure device that mimics a mother's nuzzling touch. The cattle continue down the ramp onto a smoothly curving path. There are no sudden turns. The cows experience the sensation of going home, the same kind of way they've traveled many times before. As they mosey along the path, they don't even notice when their hooves are no longer touching the ground. A conveyor belt slightly lifts them gently upward, and then … a blunt instrument levels a surgical strike right between the eyes. They're transitioned from livestock to meat, and they're never aware enough to be alarmed by any of it. The pioneer of this technology commends it to the slaughterhouses and affectionately gives it a nickname. [Grandin] calls it "the stairway to heaven."
Moore goes on to warn us about the spiritual forces at work in our lives: Forces are afoot right now, negotiating how to get you fat enough for consumption and how to get you calmly and without struggle to the cosmic slaughterhouse floor. The easiest life for you will be one in which you don't question these things, a life in which you simply do what seems natural. The ease of it all will seem to be further confirmation that this is the way things ought to be …. You might feel as though your life situation is like progressing up a stairway so perfect it's as though it was designed just for you. And it is. In many ways the more tranquil you feel, the more endangered you are” (Source: Russell D. Moore, Tempted and Tried, pp. 25-26).
We’re not immune to temptation, but there’s a power within us to help us overcome it—the Spirit of the Living God.
Questions To Consider
- Do you think people, even some Christians, are tranquil about their temptations and sins? Why or why not? Do you think we take the bait of temptation as easily as fish do? If so, what does that say about us?
- The danger of temptation is not just that we give into it, but that over time our heart becomes hardened to the Holy Spirit’s convictions and warning to us. In your past, to what temptations did you harden your heart and how did you come to be attuned and attentive now to the Holy Spirit’s conviction and guidance in this?
- Giving into temptation is like being led to a slaughter. Why? Do you agree that Russel Moore's analogy of cows going to slaughter is similar to us giving into temptation? If so, why? If not, why?
- The devil has figured out how to keep us comfortable with our temptations as he leads us to slaughter so that we do not suspect anything dangerous. How does he do that with you and how now do you get out of that comfort?
Scripture to Meditate On: James 1:13-14, “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and He never tempts anyone else. (14) Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, You are a faithful God—strengthening me when I am vulnerable to temptation and ungodly prompting. I turn to You, recognizing that You are better than anything this world has to offer. Thank You that, through the cross of Jesus Christ, I am freed from the grip of temptation. In His name, Amen.”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly