“… How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?” Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her.”
As a coach I often told my athletes to think through game situations so much that doing the right thing becomes a reaction not a decision. In the heat of battle, if you must deliberate your response – it may be too late once you decide what to do… so we practice situations until the correct response becomes automatic.
Joseph had done this with morality… He had already decided his response to this temptation. He didn’t need to debate whether he should sleep with Potiphar’s wife… He didn’t negotiate about infidelity… He reacted… he removed himself from the temptation - leaving behind anything he had to, in order to get away.
What are you facing that you need to process until your response is not to fulfill your own desires, but to follow God’s will? What temptations are you still entertaining? What must you decide to abandon in order to pursue holiness?
If you desire to chase after the heart of God, the first decision you must make is to commit to paying whatever it cost… Nothing else matters until that decision is made. If you have decided to pursue a holy life, you must embrace the mindset which is the key to success… That is the realization that “My life is about God… not about me”. That mindset is essential to a life of obedience.
If you wish to resist temptation, then prepare your response before you’re tempted… Embrace the price tag, pray about your strategy, study the exact desired reaction until it becomes instinctive... It may be too late when the trap is sprung - so know your escape route before it happens.
Training yourself to react as Joseph did involves understanding, in the deepest parts of your heart, that you must decrease, and Christ must increase... Your go-to response to temptation must be, “thy” will be done… not “my” will. Your strength comes from realizing that “it’s not about me”. Write that down and put it where you’ll see it every morning… make it a mantra in your head…. “It’s not about me.”
“… you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” - Norman Schwarzkopf
Good reflections today.
ReplyDelete-Brady