Watch Out for the Bakery Aisle

“God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation.” – C.H. Spurgeon

I remember being vaccinated against polio as a 5-year-old child. The first shot was administered in kindergarten by way of a four-prong needle that left a scar on my upper left arm. In fact, you can tell a fellow Baby Boomer because we all have that same indelible mark. The second shot, administered a year later, wasn’t a shot at all. Rather it was a liquid booster that was poured onto a sugar cube that we ingested.

As you can imagine, I wasn’t crazy about the four-prong shot but that sugar cube sure tasted good. And guess what? I have never contracted polio as a result of getting that vaccine. Thank you, Dr. Jonas Salk!

Unfortunately, in this world full of temptations, there is no vaccine that prevents us from sinning. As a matter of fact, we contradicted the fatal sin disease when we were conceived and because of that, we will someday die a physical death… just like Adam and Eve, our ancient ancestors.

Living in our fallen state, it is easy to succumb to the temptations that surround us such as scantily clad women or the bakery aisle at our local supermarket. Thankfully, as believers, we are also indwelled with the Holy Spirit, who provides us with the strength to resist and flee (I Corinthians 6:18 and James 4:7). As Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug abuse campaign suggested in the 1980s, “Just Say No!”

Oh, if only it were that easy, right? Well, without diminishing sin’s power and Satan’s’ deceptions, Christians can overcome the snares of sin that seek to entrap and engulf us. We simply have to look for the “exit door” that God provides when (not if) temptations show up (see I Corinthains 10:13).

Here are some further thoughts on the matter from Charles Spurgeon…

“The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, and just as certain the Christian man is born to temptation. We must be always on our watch against Satan because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach.”

“Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is better than cure: It is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you than to endure the perils of the fight even though you come off a conqueror.”

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:13a (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President