Sweet illusions

Many “godly” people seem to deny that sin has any pleasure attached to it, any relief of stress, any sense of control, any feeling of being loved and worthwhile. However the devil loves to take God’s delicious worms and put an invisible hook in it. The wine dances in the cup and is beautiful and produces: forgetting of problems, the ability to relax and enjoy company and even brings on sleep. BUT THEN at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Proverbs 23:31

Dogs love to drink antifreeze, it is sweet and delicious to them, and then they die. Just like sin, right? James 1:14 “God never tempts me, I look at the forbidden fruit and it is beautiful and appears delicious, I am drawn to it and I sinfully partake and it is delicious. Can you imagine what that first forbidden fruit tasted like? BUT, in the end it brings forth death.

We superficially agree to not sin/ We look at it and begin to wonder what is so bad with it and the people sinning seem happy they seem to prosper/ We hang out in the path of sinners/ We slip and indulge and it is enjoyable.

Now comes the dopamine rush, our brain has been programmed to remember that pleasure and it pushes us to do it again. Still, we feel guilty and promise not to repeat the pleasure, but secretly wonder why God is such a spoil-sport. The next time we feel lonely, or irritated, or sad, or anxious, dopamine in our brain says, ” you could do that again and feel better right away.” So we find ourselves doing what we did not want to do and not doing what we know we should and our better part really wants to but we don’t. We could have reached out to God and other godly people but that takes time and effort and sinful relief is easy, intense and quick. Romans 7:15-21

Even when the indulgence no longer pleases or brings relief, the dopamine urge part of our brain says, “try again maybe you are doing it wrong maybe you have been off long enough to enjoy it this time.” I remember one young lady who almost died from injecting heroin into her jugular vein. As soon as she was through detox, and knowing that the next dose would feel wonderful for a while, she pulled out her IV’s and went out to use again. A few weeks later the inner city mission that we attended was piciting a bar that pushed prostitution and there she was trying to earn money for the next, “fix”. (What a word for taking a hit of poison!)

PS: Remember, that if you can not relate to this and say that you do not have any struggles with sin–then you call God a liar! I John 1:10 I was once talking to a 25 year old friend who had been saved for a year and was struggling. At that time I had only been saved for 35 years and he asked me , “At what point do you no longer struggle?” I’m afraid that my answer was a bit discouraging in that I had not yet reached that point. Now, here I am, a born again child of God for 69 years, and have come to see that the more we grow the more we see areas of needed growth. Pride comes before a fall and as soon as I think that “I’ve got this” my face is in the mud again. Proverbs 16:18

And, it is OK! The longer that I walk with the Holy Spirit, the more that I see the huge gap between the mess he took and the wonder of how much he loves me, the wonder of what he is able to do with a humble person. Remember that Humility is the gap between seeing that in me dwells no good thing Romans 7:18and ACTING in who I am in Christ . It keeps me from comparing with others, 2 Corinthians 10:12 from judging others as worth less, or as hopeless. It keeps me from getting worn out by doing things in my own strength which is and always will be (0 strength), from standing on my rights (which do not exist since my sin put Jesus on the cross and I was forgiven). Humility needs to be ever expanding so that it fills me with ever expanding gratitude. I see so many people who get saved and that is all they want. They might not say that they have arrived but they show no hunger for feedback or accountability to help them grow. If Paul never “arrived” then what make me think that I have arrived? Philippians 3:12

In the next blog I will explore some of the pleasures that the world offers that so easily beset us. Hebrews 121