The Chocolate Island

I recently attended a conference in Pittsburgh where they had a "chocolate island". They might as well have moved crack in front of an addict. If that wasn't enough, the lead delicacy was chocolate covered pretzels. Now I did not move my chair and stand there just piling the food into my waiting mouth. I was much more subtle than that. I would walk around the exhibits, then purposely meander over to the chocolate island and sample a few more. Then I would walk around a little more and repeat said process. This occurred throughout the day.

It was not hard to imagine that by the end of the day I was not feeling all that great. It did not seem to me that I overindulged. I dealt with the temptation in bite-sized increments, but over time it wore down my immune system. At the end of the day, I had a two hour drive home and I was very concerned about falling asleep at the wheel. I had to pull off of the road and take a nap. Such were the repercussions of my "sugar high" which came crashing down. I don't think I felt very well for several days afterwords.

Such is the nature of sinful habits. They are very insidious. They creep up on you and gain a foothold. Before you know about it, they completely envelop your mind to where there is nothing else to think about. I think that is precisely what James meant when he said "but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:14-16). 

It used to surprise me when alcoholics would say that they haven't had a drink in XX years. What harm could one drink do? Answer, a lot. A friend and co-worker does not eat processed sweets at all. Why? Because he knows as he says that he cannot eat just one sweet - he will eat a whole lot of them. Now for me, sweets are a problem but there are many more habits that wreak havoc with my mind and pull me away from Christ. Believe me when I say that the enemy knows your weakness and what your "chocolate island" is.

The answer is not out of our own will to combat the chocolate islands of life. It requires a supernatural filling of God's Holy Spirit. That is why after a verse like James has, it says "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (James 1:17). Or when Paul says "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2). Or "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God (Col. 3:16). For every hurdle, there is a spiritual answer.

God provides the answer to our chocolate islands and it involves transformation, not our willpower. Our willpower will get us to a smaller sample size, but will not eradicate the problem. God wants us to come to him and he will supernaturally enable us to not avoid the temptation but overcome it.