Temptations abound around us. Everywhere I look, I see something new or different that I can try. Some things seem harmless and others seem the opposite. There is just so much out there that one can do or buy or watch or read.
It’s almost as if all of it is being provided as a distraction. If you are kept busy enough, you won’t notice the emptiness you feel inside. You will try to fill it with things or people or words or anything but what that void is actually made for. It is a God-shaped hole and only he can really fill it.
But we endeavor to find other answers. I have called my temptations by another name – collections. Yes, I have had many “collections” in my life. Unlike some people who focus on one thing, such as toys, or pottery or clothes or what have you, I have had mini-collections of many different sorts.
For a year or two, I will be obsessed with one thing, such as books, puzzles, dolls, fabrics, etc. I will look for and buy all that I am tempted by. Then I lose interest until the next thing catches my eye. Like other individuals, I have rationalized my put aside “collections” as something I will do when I retire.
It’s funny how life gets in the way. I became ill and was told to get rid of those collections as they were what was hurting me. As it turns out, after I got rid of much of them, the doctor who told me they were harmful wasn’t quite right.
Actually, in the end, in a totally different way she was correct. The burden of all of those temptation collections were dragging my soul down. Each time I thought of the total amount of them, it would make my head hurt. It also make me wonder what in the world I had thought I was doing when I was so intent on tracking each item down.
You see, I now understand that in giving into those temptations, I was actually giving in to sin. I was putting those “collections” above everything else and devoting my whole attention to looking for and buying them. It’s really not any different from the first temptation, when Eve was enticed to try the fruit of the one forbidden tree. Something different and out of reach suddenly becomes the one thing you really must have.
That the items in my collections were ultimately unsatisfying isn’t to be surprised. Sin may feel good for a time but, in the end, you are left in worse shape than when you started.
I know that many others go through this same cycle. I see it every day. It is like an addiction run wild. I have seen people fall apart emotionally, go to the brink financially, and lose connection with reality just in trying to fill their collections. Since only God can satisfy that empty place, their collection and filling it becomes a burden. It can also become something that isn’t used such as mine. You see, it becomes the visual of the unhappiness we feel inside.
For some, their collections are actually put to use. They buy what the will use and use what they have. That’s where I am at this point. I gave myself a more reasonable amount of hobby supplies. I am finally spending my time enjoying working with them rather than the endless search of looking for more.
At the same time, I have re-connected with God. Not that he ever left me. No, I was the one who looked every other way but to him. Having been stopped cold in my tracks and tethered to my house, I have been able to sit and think rather go and do all the time. Thinking has led to praying and praying has led to a renewed relationship with God.
The collections and their temptations have dropped away from importance in my mind. Things that I thought meant a lot suddenly seem trivial and not worth my time. I still love to craft and probably always will. However, crafting falls so far behind things of true importance in my life, that I have to schedule a time for crafts.
God is first in my life, then my family and extended family come next. My country is third and then the rest of the world rounds out the list. By putting God first, many other things come floating to the top. Sometimes it relates to family, sometimes to others but mostly it has to do with dealing with my own life.
You see, as Christians, we still are tempted. We still sin. It seems like it happens, in one way or another, every single day. By having my relationship with God first, I am able to go to him and ask for help in resisting temptation or to confess my sins to him.
It reminds me of the Israelites in the Old Testament. They were given blessings from God. They then started pursuing the worldly things. From their it was an easy step to start worshiping the “gods” they made with their own two hands.
While in those days they actually made physical idols, today we worship idols that are mostly in our minds. We create a “god” of someone or something and then we look to that god to give us the comfort, validation and fulfillment that we seek.
Of course, that will never really happen. We’re doomed to disappointment. Just like in the days of old, when the Israelites turned away from God, the world will crash in and try to destroy us. When that happens and as the Israelites did, we cry out to God to save us. For a time, God answered the Israelites and saved them from the doom they created for themselves.
But, in the end, he let Israel be ransacked and dispersed because their sin had become too great. Still, even in doing so, God promised them that in the last days, he would gather their remanent back together. That he would be their God and they would be his people once again.
Because of the unending cycle of the Israelites, I give a lot of thought to things I do these days. Even the things that seem good and fun and right. Sometimes those things would be okay but my motivation is what is wrong. Why do I want to do something? Why do I want to buy that thing? Those are the types of questions I ask myself these days. If the answer doesn’t line up with the Word of God, then it is something I need to pass on.
If you are like me and struggle with temptations, whether they be for things, people, feelings or otherwise, you need to know that you will never find an answer in the things of this world. These temptations are really addictions and the result of giving in is really to sin.
Ask God to help you with your feelings and desires, Ask him to guide you, hold you and keep you strong. Ask him to give you the strength to say no and to move on. To help you to spend your time in the ways that God wants for you.
This is something that I do now constantly. It seems like an unending process but I am finding it easier to say no each time. I hope this is true for you as well. God gives me strength to resist and will do so for you, too.
John 2 15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.
For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world.
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.