Don't know how I missed this during the election season. This morning I read a news story that President-Elect Obama was a heavy smoker prior to his successful run for the presidency. He credits his wife for encouraging him to quit. I quickly googled the matter and learned that last summer he admitted to "falling off the wagon" and smoking a few cigarettes. (The story is fact but I question the authenticity of this picture.)
Why do we "fall off the wagon" when it comes to destructive behaviors and actions? Self-defeating, dangerous, sinful, and consumptive behaviors often seem to have our number, even if we abhor the behavior.
I'm reminded of the lyrics to the song "In the Light."
I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
Ive got one for every selfish thing I do
What's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior.
I think the way we normally respond to addictions and intense compulsions is just as destructive, if not more destructive, than the behavior we are attempting to discard. Here are a few of the common dysfunctional ways we address our issues.
1. Will Power. How easily we forget that we our powerless over our sin. We are slaves to it. The Apostle Paul speaks of his struggle in Romans 7. "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing."
Paul is speaking of his sinful nature-the flesh. This is our humanness. Being human is not sinful but left to ourselves we lust for things which are not good for us. Our "flesh" is constantly on the prowl for pleasure, comfort, power and approval. Our flesh is the beachhead where sin can still operate in the life of a person who has placed their faith in Christ.
Too often, the advice we get from church is just to try harder, make better choices and follow more rules to control our flesh and manage our sin. I grew up hearing harsh, angry preachers scream about sin. While their messages contained some truth, it didn't work because it assumed a person's ability to choose right over wrong. Most of the time all it brought about was guilt, rebellion, anger, and fear.
2. Masochism. Throughout the centuries, many good men and women, sickened by their own behaviors and their inability to control themselves, turned their destructive tendencies inward. Physical and mental self-punishment and condemnation often leaves us broken and impotent in our mission to bring glory to God.
3. Hypocrisy. Attempts to deal with our shortcomings often lead toward judgemental attitudes and hypercritical attitudes of everyone else.
4. Spiritual Formulas or Self-Help Remedies. I'm reminded of a skit that was once popular in youth groups. Someone would get "stuck" in a box labeled "Sin." Various people would come by the box and offer suggestions on how to get out or condemnation toward the one stuck in "sin." Finally, a spiritual looking student, Bible in hand, would stroll up and offer this advice: "Trust God and Pray, He can get you out of there!" So the stuck guy, in desperation, would pray. ZAP! Effortlessly the student then emerged from the box-free from sin! This was usually followed by a good-meaning message about deliverance from sin through Jesus.
While this skit contains truth-Jesus does bring freedom, it sends a message of frustration to all those who cried out to Jesus yet remained stuck in their box. Many frustrated Christians left wondering, "Is my faith just not strong enough?"
On my next blog I'll tell you how I remixed this skit last Wednesday night to our Student Ministry and give you a better way of dealing with relentless sins and behaviors.
"This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Savior!"
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