Lord, My Desire Is To Be Like You…

What do you do at the end of the day?  You’re exhausted after dealing with your sick two and four year old.  You are five and ½ months pregnant.  You live 5,000 miles from the nearest family member and your husband is hunting black bear with his bow in the wilds of Alaska.  You are unsure of his return time….and it is the day before Mother’s Day!  Do you feel sorry for yourself and give into the bitterness and resentment that runs like an underground hot spring in the depths of your heart, letting it spew out like a geyser on those around you?  Or do you turn away from anger and give into the loving kindnesses and comfort of God’s Holy Spirit instead?

You may not have been in a circumstance like this, but I know that each one of us faces temptation every day of our lives.  As a mother of young children with another one on the way this is just one example of temptation I faced this week.  Sin desires us like a ravenous wolf crouching at the door.  Just as Cain had a choice to “do well and not let sin rule over him”, we too have that choice.

As a young adult working out my faith independently of my parents the temptations were far different than they are now, but the attack is still the same.  Satan seeks to distort the truth (John 8:44), entice me with my own desires (James 1:14-15), and ultimately lead me away to be devoured (1 Peter 5:8).  Generally the assault is now on my relationships; my marriage, my friendships, and with my children.

We see Satan’s three-fold attack illustrated in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-8).  Satan first seeks to twist and distort the Word of God so that we will not believe or be saved.  Once someone has heard the good news and acted on their belief, he tempts them hoping they will fall away.  Finally when a person of faith shows a real commitment, Satan fashions a special strategy of distraction so that they won’t mature.  This is where he wants to keep us: distracted, ineffective, weighed down by the cares of this world...not bearing fruit.

We must be aware of Satan’s pursuit and act in that awareness.  Jesus warns us that temptation is necessary (Matthew 18:7) and we can easily play into Satan’s web of deceit if we act as if we are somehow impervious to temptation.  A wise man I know calls it, “putting on our spiritual make-up”.  So often we go through life unaware of the spiritual battle waging around us and come Sunday morning we put on our “spiritual make-up”, go to worship and act as if everything is just dandy.  One of two things is happening:  Either our senses have been dulled to a point where we are like the seed in the thorns, entangled in the web of this world and its desires, or we deceive ourselves and our Christian brothers and sisters into believing we have it all together.  Either choice is preventing us from having an honest and good heart that bears fruit with patience (Luke 8:15).

I thank God we have a Savior that is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, was tempted as we are and still without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  My prayer during times of temptation is summed up in the following praise hymn:

“Lord, my desire is to be like you.
Say the things you say…
Do the things you do…
Let me hear your still voice…
Through all the other noise…
So that I can be…
Just what you want me to be.”

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK