snipers on the watchtower

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." -1 Peter 5:8

 

Prologue: years ago, I hiked this mountain trail in southeastern Colorado. Five miles up to a lake. I hiked alone. The summer foliage, thick. The only noise came from me trudging along the trail. About three miles up, a jarring series of thuds alarmingly jolted my senses: a massive elk bounded away from near the trail, from near me, and into the forest. 

Elk vs Average Human Size

Until it moved, I didn't notice the elk's presence whatsoever. Elk can sometimes act aggressively toward people. If, in that moment, it'd decided to charge me, I would've been badly hurt. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but my choice to hike alone and unprepared wasn't wise.

-----

So I recently finished reading a provocative and sad biography about Pete Rose. 

For the non-fans: Pete Rose played pro baseball for 24 years. Rose holds the all-time record for most hits. A 17-time All-Star, Rose also won three World Series titles.

But he's not eligible for the Hall of Fame because, as a manager, he placed bets on baseball and was banned from the game. MLB forbids(*) its players, umps, baseball teams, or anyone employed with any team to place bets on baseball games. This rule is posted in every MLB stadium locker room; every time Rose walked into and out of any locker room, he walked past a sign reminding of this rule.

 

He still gambled on baseball. Sometimes, he gambled thousands of dollars a day.

 

Rose himself estimated that his permanent banishment from baseball has cost him recognition, his reputation, and hundreds of millions of dollars. He appealed for reinstatement, but never received it. He died, polarized and a pariah from the game he loved so much.

Why? Why risk so much achievement and blessing for something so banal?

 

It is true that God can redeem all things. It's true that God can make something out of the sins, mistakes, and wrong choices we choose to make in our lives.

But that doesn't mean it will be the same as if we'd chosen the wiser path from the start. Undoing a wrong turn doesn't happen instantly. When we choose a path that isn't right for us (or when we end up on such a path non-purposefully) it follows that it'll take us longer to get back to where we should be.

If we get back at all.

And that's the sobering, scary part. Sometimes, I'm prone to thinking that I'm more resilient and stronger than I actually am. Don't you also sometimes think this way? It's not just me. We dabble with this behavior or this way of thinking or living, breezily confident it'll have no long-term effect on us. And then I read a verse like 1 Peter 5:8, admonishing his hearers to 'be watchful'.

How watchful am I? Are you?

 

Are we watchful over our lives, our hearts, our minds, our souls? Probably not as much as we should be. And if we are, we're super-attuned to one sort of pitfall, but naively ignorant of many others.

Every lie we tell helps us become more comfortable with telling another. So many addicts began with one dabble, not meaning for it to consume everything about their lives. Every gossiper began with one ordinary conversation. Every embezzler starts with some small amount of cash. Every jealous thought we entertain and don't resist makes it easier for other jealousies to fester in and poison our hearts.

I'm not saying to stay paranoid and spooked about everything in life. That's no way to live. 

 

I guess what I'm saying is what 1 Peter 5:8 says. Stay alert. Stay street-smart (in the spiritual, emotional sense as well as the physical sense). The adversary roams, looking for any way to distract and devour us if given the chance. The road of any sin, if continued to its logical end, eventually leads to absolute ruin. It's like choosing the path that goes past snipers posted on the watchtower, hoping that they all have bad aim when you stroll past.

    “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible (p. 132).” Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

 

It's not worth it. It's not too late to turn back.

 

Respect how you're created. Respect whose image you represent. Remember you live in a beautiful world, and that this beautiful world has its evils and dangers as well.

-----

Epilogue: I briskly turned around and descended down the mountain. Two more miles of hiking to see a lake wasn't so alluring anymore. If I'd chosen a wiser way to hike to begin with, there'd be no qualms to continuing on the trail. I'll see the end of that trail some other time.

*For those keeping score, the MLB rule states: "Any player, umpire, or club, or league official, or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."

WWJD - nap

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1

It's never not intimidated me when the Bible says I/we gotta imitate Christ. For most of my life, I've understood this as meaning 'be like Jesus' to = 'don't sin, always be the best.'

While not sinning is part of imitating Jesus, it's not all of it. The imitation of Christ is too often equated with attaining for 'perfection.' And our sense of 'perfection' is warped, frankly. Icarus can never make it.

To be blunt: Jesus did not create daily to-do lists, complete with immaculate, color-coded penmanship. He never got into what his Enneagram type could be. He did not wake up at 4AM every day to fit in 90 minutes of cardio and strength training. He probably didn't floss after every meal. He did not show up 10 minutes early to every lesson at synagogue, just to ensure he wasn't late. When he gave a housewarming gift, he may have re-used a gift bag.

He probably let his food ... touch the other food on his plate.

In fact, Jesus:

-took naps on the regular (Mark 4:38)

-enthusiastically ran away when a crowd became too much (Mark 6:31-32)

-got hungry, and then became annoyed when he couldn't find food (Matthew 21:18-19)

-was not at everything other people expected him to attend (John 11:6, John 11:21)

-cried when he was sad (John 11:35)

-showed frustration at religious systems -- and didn't even try to hide it (John 2:13-17)

-every so often resisted his family's pressure on how he should live his life (Mark 3:21,31-35)

It's almost as though Jesus -- in telling his disciples and followers to imitate -- is saying we should copy *all* of his ways in how we live day by day. In the famous words of the penguin skipper from Madagascar when they made it to the beach: "Now THIS is more like it." 

So while we're trying to imitate Jesus and keep from sinning, and in trying to love our neighbors as ourselves, let's not forget about how Jesus didn't always go along with his family's wishes--we may need to imitate that at some point. Or when Jesus cried. Or how Jesus showed some frustration. Or how Jesus took those naps.

run like hell

It's almost too bad being a mouse in (or near) homes, buildings. You're poking around, darting here and there, minding your business. But then suddenly, you spot this unbelievably gorgeous piece of human food, just sitting there. 

Sure, the "platter" it's sitting on looks a little weird, but you crave this treat. You want it because you want it.

You cannot resist. You edge closer, wanting just a taste of of the delectable delight. This is usually how mice encounter a heaping dose of life-altering pain. 

It's also like this too, with temptations we face.

To be a human being in this world is to face temptation. Temptations tend toward something enticing, something beautiful, something enjoyable -- at first. But within the temptation is what would ruin us. A sweet outer shell that coats a bitter, poisonous core. It's either something good misused (money, food, friendship, drink, sex, language, etc), or something that's just rotten through and through.

And even though we may know it's not good for us -- we want it anyway.

For Christians, the reality of temptation appears in the fabric of the most known prayer in the Bible, the Lord's Prayer (lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...). Let's be clear: having to face temptation is not a sin (by sin, I mean missing the mark -- misusing others, ourselves, the world around us for our own selfish ends).

My pastor, during a sermon some years back, shared some bracing truths about humanity and temptation 

... mainly, that people continually overestimate their ability to withstand temptation in tempting scenarios. Pride comes before the fall.

When have you overestimated yourself in such scenarios? When have done something you previously thought -- or swore -- that you'd never do? It's happened to my friends. It's happened to me. It's probably happened to you, too.

The apostle Paul had this to say about temptation, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, Greece. 

"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to [people]. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation God will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)

A few points to spot:

a) "let anyone who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall" -- the mere presumption that we're self-sufficiently strong enough to withstand a temptation becomes a warning sign. 

b) "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to [people]" It can encourage us to remember that whatever temptations we face are not unique to us. Yes, our backstories, particulars may differ from other people. But the object of temptation isn't new to this world. In other words, you're not alone with what you face. Other people have faced it. You can too.

c) "he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, with the temptation God will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." God will always provide a way out of temptation's snare. The way out might not be easy. The way it may cost. But there's a way out. Take the way out whenever you can. 

 Clamber for the escape. Keep fighting to get away.

d) "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." If (for example) you struggle with gambling, God's not going to be impressed by how well you abstain -- in the presence of slot machines, at a casino -- from betting money. The Lord's counsel is to flee.

To run like hell. To stay far, far away. To recoil back from temptation, and to RUN from it.

e) "God is faithful" However deep or longstanding your temptation may be, and however many times you've tried to break free and have not yet, God's faithfulness outlasts, outreaches, out-shouts. No temptation can break God's faithfulness to us. Our temptations don't get the last word, ever. 

Rest on these words, sisters and brothers. It's OK to run like hell away from temptations. It's often the wiser course of action to take. Temptations are harder to resist than we think.