Dropping Anchor

"Away from me Satan!  For it is written: 'worship the LORD your God, and serve him only.'" - Matthew 4:10

A friend recently said, "I thought if I started living better, I wouldn't be tempted as much.". All I had for him was the comment that if Satan would go after Jesus himself I wasn't too surprised he would be coming after me. I trust some of the other writers this week will offer some great ideas about staying grounded but I have to admit that I am often on the brink of giving in to temptation.

The past two weeks have been hard with little sleep and too much activity and temptation is weighing me down. I am being tempted to strike back against someone who has hurt me deeply, to let words and stories out that would hurt and damage my antagonist. I have tried to remember that God is in control but in the last few days I have wanted to step in where God has been silent. I have wanted to say the things that I want said, the things that would seek to tear down and destroy. The things that I believe will get my revenge for the damage that has been inflicted on me. And this is just one of the temptations that Satan hammers me with from time to time.

One day listening to the radio I heard Matt Redman singing "You Never Let Go" and emotion overtook me while at the same time my anchor was being dropped. The words of the song spoke into me in powerful ways as I thought about how God had never let go of his hope for me, of his love for me, of his mercy and grace, of his never-ending desire to have me draw close. Oh no, He never let go. He never let go of the prodigal. He gave him some rope, allowed the prodigal to wander but He never let go of his love or his hope that the prodigal would desire to draw near. God never let go of me either.  So, when I'm tempted, my anchor is the knowledge that while I can decide to satisfy my sinful desire, I simply try to remember that no matter what I've done, no matter how ugly my sin has been, God is holding on to hope that my desire will be to come closer to him, to live in his love for me and all that he wants to cover me with.  

Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

Grace and peace to you.

Jeff Jones

Decatur, Texas