Death by Inches

I recently read an article in the Fargo Forum (http://www.inforum.com) about a former mayor of Fargo, ND named Jon Lindgren. In the article he talked about how when he was mayor, “People came into my office and said, “God wants you to shut down the abortion clinic. God doesn’t want gays living in Fargo. God doesn’t want any stores open on Sunday.” So I thought, “That’s not my church. My church doesn't think that way.” I found out some people in my church thought that way.” Jon obviously felt that the people of his church would and should extend more grace to those that are lost in the world. But was this the love of Jesus that Jon had read about in his Bible? I wonder if this is what happens when we start to “edge off the path.”

 Most of us don’t start to “edge off the path” by taking 90 degree turns. If you look at your own life in the past when you were tempted to “edge off the path” wasn’t it more like 10-15 degree turns? Martin Luther once warned, “temptation was like hovering birds, and we should never let them begin to build a nest in our hair.” So how long does it take the birds to build that nest and we succumb to temptation and full blown sin sets in?

Jon Lindgren came to believe the Ten Commandments monument outside Fargo’s City Hall should come down. Later, he became a plaintiff in lawsuits trying to remove the monument because the First Amendment forbids “the establishment of religion.” The experience led Lindgren to stop practicing his Christian faith and to become an outspoken skeptic about the existence of God. Jon did a 360 degree turnaround in his life.

 Pastor Greg Laurie has fought temptation by envisioning Christ answering the door for him whenever temptation is knocking. We know the path God wants us to walk on. We know the life He wants us to live. We have to stop believing that we are immune from the small temptations that can lead us off track. It is often times easy to avoid the big pitfalls; however it is usually the small temptations that cause us to stumble. It kind of reminds me, as a former football coach, of a fourth-and-goal play on the 1 yard line. Your team is trailing on the scoreboard and this is the last play of the game. If you score you win! The defense holds and you don’t score. It is literally “death by inches.”

Proverbs 4:14-15 says, "Don't do as the wicked do, and don't follow the path of evildoers. Don't even think about it; don't go that way. Turn away and keep moving."  Don’t think about that temptation, turn away from it, and keep moving down the right path. Are you kidding me? Don’t think about temptation? It appears in your mind as fast as a top fuel dragster finishing the quarter mile, in a flash. So when temptation is there, we have to turn away from it like it’s a serial killer about to claim another victim. Keep moving down the right path, like you’re a sprinter in the 100 meter finals in this summer’s Olympics (http://www.olympic.org). As you can see I am a fan of the Olympics.

 There is other thing I would recommend if you want to overcome acedia in regards to temptation. It is to have a personal accountability partner that asks you the hard questions about your life. This has been a personal practice of mine for the last 25 years. It’s always true - God will make a way when there seems to be no way. He never allows us to be tempted without an escape route. We just have to see it and make a jail break from the prison of sin.